Forever Alive
by RebelzHeart
Summary: The Whitebeard Pirates took in 3 children, but they didn't expect to be dealt with the burdens of the children. Is my life worth anything? Why do people keep lying to me? Why can't my brothers trust me? And slowly, ASL becomes part of Whitebeard's family... but will they accept it?
1. Prologue

"What a tiny island." Whitebeard noted as he saw the small place. "The East Blue is so small… Are you sure that Shanks was near here?"

"Aye." Thatch said as he squinted against the sun's glare. "Pretty sure. Doesn't look like much… maybe the information was wrong? Red hair spending more than a month in one place seems pretty strange. If the rumors were true then what could have caught his attention?"

"I dunno." Marco joined them and gave the island a long, hard look. "Maybe he found a girl or something and he fell in love?"

Immediately, the three snorted at the idea. "Ha, right!" Whitebeard laughed at the mere thought.

"But still…" Thatch cast the island a long, hard look. "I wonder what it could possibly be that kept him there."

"It's probably nothing." Marco replied dismissively. "If we're desperate enough to come to the weakest of the islands just to ask him how to get to Skypia without damaging our ship all over again then…" He paused. "Why _do_ we want to get up to Skypia again?" He asked. "I mean, we almost died last time…"

"I think it was because Eiichiro wanted to fight that bubble guy again." Whitebeard replied, looking deep in thought, then burst into laughter. "Oh well, it doesn't matter! We just want to ask him for advice!"

"He probably doesn't know how to do it." Marco replied, sweat dropping a little.

"But the adventure will be worth it!" Thatch replied with a grin.

"Yeah, probably." Marco gave the small island in front of them a long, hard stare. "I wonder what this place will be like. Oh well. We need to restock on some things anyways."

"Yeah." Thatch agreed. "But it's such a small place. I bet that it doesn't have that much of a variety of food… we've been running low of fruits, too. We should've gotten some at the last island but I got distracted by the weaklings that tried to attack us…"

"Like five million beli was something to be proud of." Marco agreed. "This sea is totally different from the Grand Line."

"But it's nice to relax once in a while, right?" Whitebeard asked cheerily as the two commanders turned to him.

"Yeah." Marco agreed, slightly dubious. "Relax. Isn't there some navy Vice Admiral that lives on an island near here?"

"Nonsense!" Whitebeard replied dismissively. "There's no way that someone strong enough to be a Vice Admiral could live here! He'd be all the way off in the Grand Line!"

And then the news came to them that this was the home island of 'Hero' Monkey D. Garp.

And obviously, Whitebeard proceeded to go full steam ahead.

0o0o0o0o0

"I knew you were suicidal, but I didn't know that you were _this_ suicidal." Ace grumbled as he pulled Luffy away from the Great Tiger. "I mean, it took all three of us to beat this thing up last time. Did you really think that you could take it on alone?"

"But I wanted it to teach me how to get big and become stronger!" Luffy protested. "I wasn't going to _fight_ it!"

Sabo face palmed with a groan as Ace proceeded to yell about how stupid Luffy was, thinking that he could get fighting lessons from the Great Tiger, the King of Corvo Mountain.

"Do you want to die or something!?" Ace finished, punching Luffy on the head with a groan of annoyance. "Seriously, looking after someone as weak as you is such a pain!"

Luffy's bottom lip quavered. "Does—does that mean that you don't want me around?" He asked, looking like he was about to cry.

Ace freaked out as he realized what he had done. "No! What the heck is wrong with you!?"

"How did you get the idea that we wouldn't want you around?" Sabo asked, eyes narrowed. "You've been with us for a really long time, Luffy! Why wouldn't we want you around?"

"Well…" Luffy stared at the ground. "I went to visit my village today to get some stuff and the kids said that nobody would want a freak like me and… the adults said that the kids were being stupid and lying but adults have to be nice, you know? And I just thought that…"

"You're a total idiot." Sabo deadpanned as he allowed Ace to hit the youngest of the brothers on the head.

Ace cracked his knuckles, eyes murderous. "Who are those little brats?" He demanded angrily. "Who called you a freak, huh? I'm going to beat them up!"

Sabo attempted to calm Ace down… but… well, let's just agree that 'attempted' was the key word, because in the end the blond had somehow also been in agreement that Luffy's bullies should be beaten up.

Luffy raced in front of them, waving his hands and shaking his head wildly as he called that he really didn't need them to only to discover that they had already left ahead of him. With a pout, Luffy chased after them screaming that he didn't need them to do this for him.

Ace replied by calling him a total idiot and Sabo just grinned as he informed Luffy that they were going to do this whether the youngest of their trio liked it or not.

"B-b-but… it takes all day to get down there and back! It'll be midnight before we get back up here…" Luffy trailed off with a slightly hopeful look, even though he knew that it would be futile to try to stop his brothers.

Ace finally stopped, turned, and gave Luffy a long, hard look, eyes dark in irritation. "Don't you have a house in Fuusha village, Luffy?" He asked, finally seeming to reach the end of his rope.

Luffy froze, comprehension dawning in his eyes. "I—well—yes—but—no—I…" He blinked at them, steam coming out of his ears after a moment of Luffy attempting to think of a lie. Evidently, he wasn't very good at cooking up lies. "It's old and dusty." The boy finished lamely.

Ace smiled triumphantly. "You see?" He asked cheerily as he puckered his lips in a happy whistle.

Sabo shivered slightly when he saw Ace so happy. The smile was eerily… he didn't quite know how to describe it, to be honest. But it also gave him a nostalgic feeling.

The blond stopped in his tracks when he realized just when Ace started to smile like that.

 _Luffy._ He thought fondly, a smile finding it's way to the ex-noble's face as well. _I can't believe I'm so used to this after such a short time… it's only been a year or so since Luffy's been here and already…_

The reluctant youngest had gotten over his two-second indignant reaction and was now bouncing around the trees (to Sabo's distress, it was quite literal) and occasionally letting out a cry of pain and crying (which ended up with Ace yelling and Sabo trying to calm both of them down) when he caught some part of himself on a sharp rock or on the more painful end of a creature's teeth.

They reached the end of the trail tightly clenching their metal pipes and looking around with shifty, suspicious eyes.

"We're here." Sabo breathed as they finally reached the end of the trail. He raised his eyes, frowning slightly as he realized that it was getting dark though the sun had yet to set. "So, Luffy, where are those idiots who insulted you?"

The effect was instanous. Luffy looked away, puckered his lips into a light, nervous whistle, and started to sweat bullets. "I don't know." He mumbled croakily.

Ace's eyebrow twitched. "Don't lie." He muttered. "You're horrible at lying."

Luffy stuck out his tongue. "Am not!" He declared angrily, crossing his arms together with a small pout.

"Are too." Ace said, his attention already travelling to the small village.

"Am not!" Luffy said angrily.

"Are too." Ace was bored of the argument by this point and his eyes swept over the near-barren streets in an attempt to find the idiots who had dared to hurt his little brother's feelings.

"AM NOT!"

A scream penetrated the air as Luffy gave a red faced shout. "PIRATES!" A woman's voice screamed and the sound of rushing footsteps and the slamming of doors followed.

There was a loud groan as the sound of quick footsteps followed up and two men walked into the village. "He's not here." The first, a redhead muttered.

"Of course he isn't." The second, a blond, sighed. "Should've been obvious enough that Red Hair wouldn't have come to a far off place like this… he's probably somewhere in the Red Line, partying without a care."

"Why did we come here then?"

"How the heck would I know? Red Hair was saying something before about going around the world again, but who can take that guy's word for anything?"

"I think we can trust him."

"That's only because he joined you in pranking Division 1."

"Ah, one of my greatest achievements. Oh…" The redhead trailed off as he took note of the three boys watching him talk to the blond. "Some kids are still here. Guess they haven't heard of us, eh? Nice! Hey, what're your names, brats?" He crouched down and held out his hand with a cheery grin.

"None of your business." Ace hissed angrily and gave the redhead a firm kick to the shins. "Get off Dawn Island right now and leave us alone."

The redhead backed away with a grin still lit up on his face as he held up both hands in a sign of surrender. "Hey, I'm not here to hurt you guys or anything…"

"Yeah right." Ace muttered.

"Shut up." Sabo hissed. Whether to Ace or to the two men though was hard to tell.

"Who're they?" Luffy wondered, disinterestedly.

The blond got impatient. "Come on, Thatch. We won't find Red Hair here anyways…"

"Hey, maybe we will! You're so pessimistic, Marco." The one dubbed 'Thatch' turned to the three. "Have you seen someone called Shanks around here, kiddos?"

Luffy's mouth dropped open. "You guys know Shanks?" He asked, sounding bewildered, then grinned. "You're friends with Shanks? Then you must be good guys!"

Marco jerked back in slight surprise. "Huh?" He asked. "You know Shanks?"

"Yeah!" Luffy nodded and grinned. "He's awesome! One day I'm going out to sea and I'm going to be an even greater pirate than he is!"

Marco froze in realization as he gave a not-so-subtle stare at Luffy's head. "That's… that's Roger's hat…" He murmured, looking stunned.

Ace hissed at the name 'Roger', but otherwise was dutifully ignoring the two men.

Sabo shot Ace an unreadable look, appearing mystified as to why these two men would want to find the man who had saved Luffy's life.

Luffy tilted his head to the side. "Roger?" He repeated, furrowing his eyebrows together in confusion. "But this is Shanks' hat! He told me to keep a hold on it until I became a great pirate." He gave the two a proud grin, which they returned with amusement.

"What are you doing here?" Ace finally cut in coldly. "If you're looking for Shanks he isn't here. You can leave now."

"Oi, Ace, that's rude." Sabo muttered. "I thought Makino was teaching you manners?"

Ace turned slightly red at that. "I quit yesterday when she called me hopeless." He replied.

"I agree with the blond." Thatch said loudly. "You should be more polite to your elders, you know."

Ace glared at them. "Who's going to make me?" He asked in a challenge.

Luffy tugged at his sleeve. "Ace." He stage whispered. "They're Shanks' friends, so they have to be good guys. You can't be mean to good guys or friends! You're only supposed to be mean to mean people, like Bluejam."

"How do you know that they're nice people?" Ace asked.

"They're friends with Shanks." Luffy replied. "Shanks wouldn't be friends with bad guys, right?"

"How the hell would I know!? I've never met him!"

"You can trust me!"

At that Ace slumped a little. "…yeah, you can't lie… but…"

"We're going to restock and then leave anyways." Marco interrupted. "And stop talking about us like we aren't here. It's kind of weird, yoi."

Sabo gave them both a slightly funny look, as though he was trying to find out what their intentions were. In the end he turned to Luffy. "You like them?" He asked hesitantly.

Luffy gave a firm nod in response.

"They don't give you any bad feelings?"

A quick shake of the head.

"You think that we can trust them?"

Another nod.

Sabo let out a light sigh. "Fine. Luffy's instincts are the best. You can always trust them." He turned to the two Whitebeard 2nd and 4th Division Commanders. "The Grocery Store's the one with the loaf of bread in front, and you can get drinks at Makino's Party Bar. The traders will come in on Wednesday, two days from now. If you want to properly restock that's when you should do it."

He gave the two another queer look, then quickly shook his head and turned to Luffy.

"So, where are those idiots that were bullying you again?"

Luffy puffed out his cheeks. "I already told you that I don't want to say it! You don't need to do this for me!"

A slightly murderous (okay, downright terrifying) aura began to surround Ace. "Tell us. Or else."

"I'm not letting you beat them up!" He sounded pretty determined. It was too bad that Ace always got what he wanted.

"Luffy… would you like some meat?"

"…They live on my street." Luffy mumbled, caving in to the bribe.

Marco frowned slightly at the three. "That's right. Do you know where we could live while we're staying here? We…"

Luffy brightened and cut him off with a cheery invitation. "You can live at my house!" He exclaimed happily.

There was a loud thumping sound as Ace hit Luffy on the head. "You idiot!" Ace yelled. "You can't just invite random strangers into your house! Let alone murderous pirates!"

Luffy scowled. "I'm going to be a pirate when I grow up anyways!" He replied. "And when I do I'll be the King of the Pirates, so I'll be their king, right? And you can't hurt the king."

Sabo face palmed at Luffy's logic. "Yes, Luffy, but you're not the King of the Pirates _yet_ , right? So they can hurt you at the moment."

"But they're good guys!" Was the slightly frustrated response.

Marco frowned at the three children. "I think that they forgot that we were here…" He muttered to Thatch, who's reply was a loud laugh. In a hasty attempt to change the subject, Marco turned to the boys. "So, you said something about us sleeping at your house, brat?" He asked, turning to the child with the straw hat.

The boy turned to him and grinned a grin that didn't quite seem to be able to fit on his face and nodded. "Yeah! Well, it's technically grandpa's house but that doesn't matter because he's never home anyways and he said that it was my home as well."

"Your grandpa works on the other side of this island?" Marco asked, curious about a boy who was willing to help a pirate and wore the hat of Red Hair Shanks.

Luffy gave him an odd look. "Of course not!" He exclaimed. "Grandpa's a…" He paused and shivered slightly. "Grandpa's a marine." He informed them in a quiet voice. "If he comes you have to hide, okay? He'll kill you…"

At that the other two children nodded empathetically, eyes wide in fear.

Thatch returned their fears with a cocky smirk. "Your old man can't hold a candle to us, brat." He informed the child. "I'll bet that he's just some old no-name captain. Who is he?"

Luffy opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by a punch by Ace. "Oww! What was that for, Ace?" The child whined.

"Stop telling them so much." Ace hissed angrily. "You're giving out personal information like it's meat."

Luffy's eyes widened. "DON'T TOUCH THE MEAT!" He screamed. "IT'S MINE!"

Sabo sighed. "The meat's metaphorical, Luffy." He informed the youngest of the brothers, though he knew that it was futile. "It's not real. The meat's all yours, 'kay?"

Instantly Luffy brightened up. "Yeah! It's all mine!" He agreed amicably.

Sabo sweat dropped and turned to the pirates. "How much of you are there?" He asked seriously. "Because we're taking five to sleep at Luffy's house maximum. I don't want too much trouble for him."

Marco and Thatch exchanged glances. "Just us." Thatch lied. "The others prefer the ship."

 _Once the others find out they are sooo going to kill us._

But it was better safe than sorry.

After all, who would be able to resist the thought of a comfy bed and actual _silence_ instead of the normal hecticness of the Moby Dick?


	2. Home is Where My Brothers Are

**A/N:** Wait here while I squeal in happiness. One day, and I got 26 favorites. I am so happy that I accidently broke my face smiling. Not really, but you guys are awesome. After I read the supernice reviews that you left I was like "Okay, start typing. If not, you're a horrible person." I hope you enjoy this.

He gaped. They all did.

There wasn't much else to do as they stared at the house in front of them.

No… not a house. It wasn't possible to describe this building in front of them a house. …If it could be considered a building.

What was it?

No… not a mansion. Probably. Maybe. But it was as close to a mansion as you could get, with four floors and taking up six times as much room as the other houses, which paled in comparison.

"L-Luffy?" Sabo managed to croak, slightly stunned that his mouth could move despite being open further than should have been physically possible. "I thought that you were just an ordinary kid… well, other than being you… but this house is the size of _my_ house."

Luffy turned to them and blinked as he cocked his head to the side. "Jii-chan says that this place is small but since he doesn't stay in one place for too long it's alright as a vacation cabin."

"C-cabin?" Thatch choked out. "This is a fourth the size of the Moby Dick, which houses over a hundred people! This is considered a _cabin_?"

Ace rubbed his chin. "Well, the old geezer _did_ say that he was one of the higher ups and that he got a good pay… but I always figured that the Marines got poor pay. Maybe it was his position?"

Marco turned and raised an eyebrow with a small frown. "Your grandfather works in the Marines?"

"Mm." Ace said absentmindedly. "The geezer's pretty strong… but he won't catch me! Of course I need to be stronger than him so that I can beat him up when I rescue Luffy from jail."

"Like I'll be caught." Luffy retorted, sticking out his tongue and wrinkling his nose. "You two will be the ones who are caught and you'll be begging me to rescue you!"

All four of the others sweat dropped. "No, I don't think that will happen." They all said in unison, waving their hands in front of them in disbelief.

Luffy pouted. "You don't believe in me?" He asked, unconsciously drawing forth his puppy dog eyes.

Ace, who was the only one of the four that was immune to the eyes, hit Luffy on the head and dragged him into the house. "Stop doing that." He muttered in irritation, rolling his eyes when Luffy innocently asked what he had been doing.

Sabo grinned at Ace. "No need to be violent, Ace. You know he'll stop in a minute anyways. It's an unconscious thing."

Ace wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." He replied dismissively.

"So, who is your grandfather?" Marco asked, deciding to go back to the previous topic of conversation. "He might be someone that we know."

Sabo raised an eyebrow, a contemplative look crossing his face. "I wonder…" He muttered. "I mean, the old man _is_ pretty rich and Marines couldn't possible get this much money as ordinary soldiers…" He squinted at the mansion. "Would a captian get a pay this good?" He mused.

Luffy didn't have much care for wondering about his grandfather, and instead settled on answering the question. "His name is—"

"None of your business." Ace interrupted with a dark glare. "For all that we know you might use us as hostages or something if he's an important figure."

Thatch gasped, heartbroken. "I would _never_ do that!" He declared solemnly… well, as solemnly as he could get.

"You're pretty suspicious for a kid, aren't you?" Marco asked with a sigh.

"Hmph."

"Is he always this rude?"

"Nah, he's usually even worse—hey, Ace, stop attacking me!"

"Hey, we already had our 100 fights today! Not fair!"

"Shut up!"

"Gomu gomu no—" It was fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how you saw it) that Marco decided to stop the fight at that moment by hitting Ace and Sabo and Thatch hitting Luffy on the head.

"I hate to intrude on your hospitality like this, but please stop fighting." Marco muttered.

The three all blinked at him with wide eyes full of confusion. "Why?" Luffy asked, tilting his head to the side. "Oh, sorry, you're hungry, right? I'm hungry too…"

"You're _always_ hungry…" Ace muttered.

Sabo paused midwalk. "Luffy, do you have any food in this mansion?" He asked curiously.

Luffy nodded. "Yeah, the servants all live there so there's always food."

"Servants?" Thatch squeaked.

"Yeah, in case grandpa ever comes back without warning. They have to always be prepared, blah blah blah and stuff."

"Blah blah blah?"

"They were really boring so I stopped paying attention."

"You shouldn't do that, you know." Marco lectured with a frown.

Luffy, of course, ignored him. "Anyways, here we are!" He swung open wide doors to a huge, empty looking house.

They were instantly greeted by servants who fussed over Luffy, cheerily greeted the boys, and gave the two older men curious but harmless looks.

"Master Luffy, it's been such a long time since you've been home!" A maid gushed as Luffy stared at the ground, for once saying nothing.

"Yes, come and we'll help you pick more appropriate wear for you." A man in a sharp looking tuxedo with the Marine's crest on it's chest exclaimed.

Luffy seemed to fold in on himself. "I'll… uh… be in my room." He muttered before fleeing up an insanely long stairwell.

Ace blinked up at him for a moment before breaking free of the gushing maids and dashing after him.

"Ah, wait!" Sabo exclaimed, not wishing to be left out, and dashed over to follow his brothers.

Marco and Thatch stared at each other for a moment before turning to the servants. Thatch blinked and hesitantly waved. "Erm… hi?"

0o0o0o0o0

"Uhm… Luffy?" Ace asked hesitantly as he walked into the room, blinking when he peered around. "Wow… this is bigger than all of Dadan's country…"

Luffy, who was sprawled down on a huge bed, sat up and turned to look at Ace. "I hate this place." He muttered and went back to faceplanting on the mattress. "I hate this room too. And this bed. And those stupid servants. I hate all of it."

Ace started slightly at that. Luffy hated something? Since when? He looked around, searching with a frown for some reason that his youngest brother would despise this place, and suddenly, he saw it.

Ace's eyes widened. Of course Luffy would hate this mansion. It stood for everything that he feared.

"Erm… Luffy?" Sabo hesitantly entered, looking around the room, obviously impressed by the size of it if his wide eyes and thoughtful expression were anything to go by. "Are you okay? You usually don't run off like that…"

Luffy faced him with a wide smile, though it looked forced. "I'm fine…" He mumbled.

Sabo gave Luffy a curious look. "I don't get it." He finally said in frustration. "You're not happy. Why?"

Ace sat down on the mattress and turned to Luffy with a light smile. "I get it." He finally said as he tilted his head to look at Luffy straight on. "You're all alone here, right? It's huge… and the servants won't play with you, right?"

Luffy nodded slightly, still face down.

"This place is so empty." Sabo muttered, feeling chills go down his spine. "It reeks of emptiness." He paused, and a light smirk settled on his lips. "Hey, Luffy, maybe there are ghooosts in here…"

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Luffy screamed, leaping back and hugging Ace, who shoved him off with a snort. "Oh, wait…" Luffy blinked at Sabo and tilted his head to the side. "Sabo, aren't _you_ a zombie, though? Can't you scare off the ghosts?"

Ace burst into laughter, for once in complete understanding of what the youngest of the trio was trying to imply.

Sabo choked at that. "Z-zombie?" He repeated in disbelief. "Why the hell would I be a zombie, Luffy?"

"W-ell, you know, you're, um, alive and stuff when Dogra saw you, erm, die… and… uh…" Luffy gave Sabo a blank look when he realized that the blond wasn't catching onto his train of thought. "Aren't zombies dead people who are still alive? Then you're a zombie, right, Sabo? Because you're supposed to be dead but you're alive?"

Sabo pouted. "I'm not a zombie!" He declared angrily. "I'm alive because I got saved! See my stitches? Zombies don't have stitches, they just have loose dead skin hanging everywhere and showing their guts to people."

"Ewwwww." Luffy wrinkled his nose. "That's gross, Sabo."

Sabo rolled his eyes. "Well sorr-y for telling the truth." He grumbled.

"Zombies don't exist, Sabo, Luffy." Ace muttered with a roll of his eyes. "And besides, zombies are dead. Sabo's alive. He's with us and he's going to stay with us for a long, long time."

Luffy gave him a light, hesitant smile and leaped forwards without warning, tackling Sabo into what would have been a bear hug had Luffy been a bigger person. "Thanks, Sabo." He mumbled into the blond's shirt.

Sabo blinked in surprise, and tilted his head to the side in confusion. "What for, Luffy?" He asked curiously and he returned the hug somewhat awkwardly. "What did I do?" He looked to Ace for help but his other brother just gave him a small, satisfied smile as well.

This was soooo weird…

"Thanks for not dying, Sabo…" Luffy whispered.

Sabo scowled. "Bah! You idiot! Me and Ace are never going to die! You're the stupidest little brother ever, if we died you'd end up dying too!"

"Why am I included in that?" Ace muttered. "I already promised not to die. It's your turn, Sabo."

"Hmph. Shut up." Sabo tried to be mad, his cheeks turning bright red in embarrassment when Ace gave him an unimpressed look. Wait a minute, when did Ace promise not to die? The blond groaned. Great, Ace must have done it while he was still in remission…

Ace just smiled at him, then leaned in and put his head on Sabo. And then, he promptly began to snore.

0o0o0o0o0o0

"So…." Sabo cleared his throat in a futile attempt at breaking the thick tension at the breakfast table. "Erm… Marco-san, Thatch-san, will you be leaving soon?"

Thatch started. "Huh? Oh, uh, yeah…" His words were slightly absentmindedly spoken, as though he wanted to ask Sabo something but was afraid of rejection. "We'll, erm, leave as soon as we stock up…"

Luffy tilted his head to the side and then grinned a wide, cheery grin. "Oh, does that mean that you're going to stay here tonight as well?" He asked cheerily.

Thatch looked slightly surprised at that, as though he had not put much thought into that. "Oh, about that…" He exchanged a look with Marco, who's impassive face gave him no answers. "Erm, maybe? We'll have to check with Oyaj—I mean, our captain, I guess…"

"No." Marco interrupted Thatch, saving the redhead from rambling in confusion. "We won't be staying. If we do we'd have to take five more people with us, and by doing that we'd be intruding on your hospitali—"

"YES!" Luffy yelled, eyes wide with excitement as he pumped a fist into the air. "More people!" The boy sounded positively delighted at the mere thought, savoring it like candy.

Marco blinked, feeling slightly astonished at the child's actions. "We couldn't possibly…" He spluttered. "Your parents wouldn't app—" He froze midsentence when the air, if possible, turned even thicker with tension.

Ace stood up quickly, knocking over his chair and dropping a spoon in the process. "May I be excused." He mumbled, the words not quite forming a question as he rushed off.

The sound of the spoon clattering onto the floor next to the chair seemed to rouse Sabo from a trance and he gave them a slightly forced smile. "If you would like we'd be alright with more people." He said. "Excuse me." And he dashed off as well.

Luffy watched the two run off, his eyebrows drawn together in a slightly mystified expression, but then started as though reaching a revolution, and then nodded to himself. Then, he turned to the two Whitebeard commanders and smiled. "Hey, you said you were pirates, right?" He asked cheerily.

Thatch, who had absentmindedly watching the two boys dash off, snapped to attention instantly and nodded quickly with a grin on his face. "Yeah!" He exclaimed cheerily. "We're great adventurers of the sea!"

"That's so cool!" Luffy yelled in response. "Just like Shanks said! Hey, did you go to the island in the sky too?"

Thatch nodded, his face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Yeah! It's an island called Skypeia, you know! And the people living there have wings, just like angels!"

"SO COOL!" Luffy yelled. "Do you still have the ship that went up?"

"Yeah! It's called the Moby Dick! It's the greatest ship in the world!"

"NO WAY! Show me!"

"Alright! Follow me! Come on, I'll personally give you the grandest tour ever of the Moby Dick!"

"Erm, Thatch, what about the other two? And wouldn't we need to asked Oyaji for permission about bringing three random kids onto the ship?"

"Nah, it'll be fine. I mean, look at how excited those kids are!"

"ACE! SABO! WE'RE GOING TO SEE A PIRATE SHIP!"

There was a small pause before the two appeared, Ace looking grumpy and Sabo curious. "A pirate ship?" Sabo repeated, a thoughtful look crossing his features. "Ah, but wouldn't that be rude of us to intrude? After all, we're just a bunch of random kids... would the rest of your crew be okay with it?"

"Ah, it'll be fine." Thatch said dismissively, while Marco just shrugged, as though to say 'There's no use arguing with an idiot...'

"Pleeeaaaase?" Luffy moaned. "I really want to do it! AND it went to the Skypia Cloud island that Shanks used to talk about."

Ace and Sabo exchanged looks of exhaustion (no doubt from dealing with _that_ as a brother) and nodded, seeming to reach a conclusion.

"…Fine…" Sabo groaned slightly and ran a hand through his hair, and his eyes flickered over to his other brother as he gave him a sheepish smile. "Ahaha, well, who can resist? After all, we're going to be great pirates in the future, right? So why not? Besides, I know that you're dying to look at it."

Ace scowled. "I'm not _dying_ to look at it."

"Uh huh, I totally believe you." Cue a look of total disbelief.

It was then that Luffy pointed out that they were at the ship. The two barely spared a glance at it and continued their conversation while Thatch and Marco watched in mild amusement.

"Really!"

"…"

"Okay, so what if I think it's super cool and think that if my ship were half as cool looking as this one it'd be awesome and I want to see the ship of the strongest man in the world who was thought of as a rival to _him_?"

Sabo smirked. "You said it, not me."

And obviously, Luffy was already on. _Of course he'd be the first one to get onto the ship._ Sabo thought with a fond smile. _Luffy was always the most eager to become a pirate… after all, he's going to be king of the pirates someday, isn't he?_

There was a small pause, before the blond hastily added mentally,

 _Of course, I'm still going to be the captain._

 **OMAKE:** I chose not to go into details because overprotective + violent ASL brothers=…cough, cough.

Sabo's eyes flickered over to Luffy's still form, and he smirked. "Alright, he's asleep." He whispered, signaling to Ace, who gave a swift nod in response.

"Alright." Ace grinned and cracked his knuckles as he opened the window and stepped silently onto the windowsill. "Let's do this, then."

Sabo's response was a devilish smirk as he followed Ace out the window, and dashed up to a close house. The blond tilted his head to the side and his smirk widened as Ace knocked on the door.

A woman opened the door, and blinked at them for a moment before smiling and crying "Ah, you must be Jay-chan's friends!"

Ace smiled charmingly. "Yes… _friends_ …" He agreed.

Then the boy who had bullied their dear little brother came down the stairs, rubbing sleepily at his eyes. Ace and Sabo led him outside, and the screams rang through the night.


	3. A Ship Full of Strangers

**A/N:** Yes, I know, this story's stuff is going to be completely unrealistic. And your point is? I know this would never happen but it still is going to so deal with it. Uhm, yeah.

Luffy waved to his new friends with a slightly disappointed expression on his features as he sighed. "Bye, Marco, Thatch, Old Banana Mustache dude…"

Thatch raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about, you little brat?" He demanded as they began to raise the sails.

Luffy blinked. "You're leaving so we're supposed to say bye, right?"

Thatch shook his head. "You're coming with us."

"Really!? Awesome!"

"Yeah, that's nice…. Wait, WHAT!?"

" _WHAT!?"_ Ace stepped protectively in front of Luffy, arms stretched out to guard the boy as his eyes narrowed darkly. "Luffy's not going anywhere all alone with a bunch of dangerous pirates, especially not the Whitebeard pirates, the strongest in the world."

"Yeah." Sabo agreed, stepping in front of Luffy as well, lips turned down into a frown. "Your captain is one of the Yonko and you're constantly in danger of being challenged by other pirates and being fought by the marines. Do you really expect us to surrender Luffy to you?"

Thatch gave them a bewildered look. "What? Aren't you two coming as well? Come on, come with us! It'll be fun, I promise!"

…

Ace raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed. "First of all, do you have permission from your captain?"

Shockingly, he did. Thatch had, for once, thought his idea through and pleaded with Whitebeard for permission, which the amused man had done when he saw how excited his son was about the idea. He had been curious to meet the brats as well.

"Second of all, you haven't told _Luffy_ yet. Does he agree?"

Luffy opened his mouth in a confused protest. "Of course I agr…"

"You can't be captain." Sabo informed his brother with a sigh. "Sorry, Luffy, but if you join the Whitebeard Pirates then you're a member of _their_ crew, and you're no longer able to captain your own ship."

Luffy's mouth dropped open in shock. "NO WAY!" He yelled in surprise.

The Whitebeard Pirates all face palmed at that. "Thatch didn't exactly pick the sharpest sword in the barrel to join us, did he?" Haruto muttered to Izo, who reluctantly nodded.

"I can't join then." Luffy informed Thatch, looking slightly downtrodden but determined. "I'm going to become the King of the Pirates, and I can't be that if I'm not the captain of the ship, you see? So I can't join. Sorry, Thatch." Cue big, long _siiiiigh_ of depression.

Whitebeard laughed at Luffy's dejected expression. "I like your ambition, brat!" He informed the boy. "You can join our ship but you don't have to join our _crew_. You can stay with us then leave when you're ready."

At that, Luffy perked up, eyes lit with excitement. "Really!?" He practically squealed in excitement as Whitebeard nodded. "AWESOME! Ace! Sabo! Let's join the old geezer's crew!"

Sabo sighed and tossed Ace a weary look, as though saying _I can't believe that we're getting roped into this by Luffy, of all people_. "I'll go and join." Sabo finally agreed after a long moment of awkward silence. "How _ever_. I want to make it clear that I'm only joining because Luffy's joining. But… uhm…" He fidgeted slightly. "Do you have any books that I can read?"

There was another moment of silence before the entire crew burst into laughter. "Books?" Jozu wondered out loud. "Of all things, the brat's asking if we have _books_?" He turned to Sabo. "We're pirates! We're criminals who constantly fight!"

Sabo drooped in disappointment.

Akiko giggled. "Brat, we've got a _library_ of books."

Sabo's face lit up so much that it felt almost blinding. "Really?" He choked out in an almost-squeal, his voice slightly high pitched as though he were barely daring to believe it.

Akiko grinned down at him. "Really. Now hurry up and get on this ship, you little bratty boy, or we're going to leave without you and the library will be far, far away…"

Sabo turned to Ace. "I'm all for it." The blond informed his brother in the most serious voice that he could muster, but the wide grin on his face and the… were those sparkles?... in his eyes betrayed him.

Ace scowled, and his eyes flickered up to Whitebeard. " _As_ strong as _him_ …" He murmured under his breath, before turning to Luffy. "Fine." He finally ground out in consent. "We'll join the Whitebeard crew."

Sabo gave Ace a slightly confused, curious look before the realization hit him. To Ace, joining Whitebeard was the same as joining his father's crew since the two were considered rivals… and if Ace were ever to be found out then…

He didn't even want to consider it. No, not when the consequences could mean losing a brother… _Am I sure about this?_ He wondered, and turned to look at Luffy. _They both have cursed blood. I have to watch out for them…_

He had to become stronger. Just in case everything had failed… just like last time.

0o0o0o0o0

Jozu sighed as he watched over the children, unsure whether he was to be frustrated or amused at their antics. He settled for amused in the end, because he was sure that if he was frustrated the kids would be in bad shape by the end of the day.

"Hey, mister." Ah, the youngest child. His enthusiasm had been nice at first, and had quickly dissolved into annoying after a few sentences and a couple of thousand questions asked within the span of 0.5 seconds, a new record, Jozu was sure.

 _I really have the worst luck at drawing straws._ He thought to himself in slight disappointment as he turned to the child with a slight, weary sigh.

"Yes?" He asked, hoping (and knowing that it was impossible) that the kids would suddenly want to go home and the crew could peacefully leave Dawn island _without_ three little brats.

The boy gave him a curious look. "Your name is Jozu, right?" He asked.

"…Yes." Jozu hoped that it wasn't a bet between the three what his name was, because if there was one then he was sure that he would've cracked due to the annoyance building up inside of him.

"What's your dream, Jozu-nii?" Was the innocent question that came from the child's mouth.

If Jozu had been eating something, he would have probably gasped, and therefore choked to death. In this case, his jaw dropped in shock. _Did I hear right?_ He wondered dizzily. Perhaps he had somehow eaten a poison mushroom? Maybe he was terribly ill with a fatal disease and was hallucinating?

No, he had heard right. The little brat had called him _Jozu-nii_. "Don't—don't call me that." Jozu told the child after he had gotten over his shock and swallowed the thick lump in his throat.

Luffy pouted but sighed. "Well?" He asked, tilting his head to the side. "What's your dream?"

His dream? Jozu tried to recall if he had ever had a dream, but all that came to mind was the strong desire to protect Pop and his new family. "No." He finally said, and cleared his throat. "I don't have a dream, because I'm already living it."

Luffy's mouth morphed into an "O" of understanding and smiled. "I see. What _was_ your dream then, Jozu-ojisan?"

 _Ojisan._ Oh, Shichibukai, that was almost worse than Jozu-nii had been. Was he really that old looking? After a moment of contemplation, Jozu decided to risk his pride and ask the brat about it. "Do I really look that old?" He demanded after a great deal of spluttering.

Luffy cocked an eyebrow into a "well, duh" type of expression and asked in a very, very serious (or at least it was meant to be. Probably. All that it contained was a great deal of irritating cuteness) voice. "Are you sure you want to know, Jozu-ojisan?"

After a moment of hesitation, Jozu decided to play safe and decline the offer.

"Anyways, you're avoiding his question." Jozu jumped a little and turned to see the blond child frowning slightly at him. "Well?" The blond boy challenged, tipping his blue top hat back slightly. "Are you going to answer it or what?"

"My dream…" Jozu frowned slightly, wondering what his dream would have been, and finally coming to a conclusion. He gave the children a light smile. "My dream was just to have a family."

"What a stupid dream." Ace snorted, coming out of nowhere.

Jozu raised an eyebrow. "What if you lived all alone, kid?" He asked quietly. "What if you had nobody there for you, and you were an outsider in this world? What would you do then? Wouldn't you want a family?"

Ace glared at him while Sabo let out a quiet hiss as though Jozu had tried to open a can of worms for bait and instead found a barrel of poisonous snakes. "Shut up." Ace snarled before stalking off, his grip tight on a small metal pipe.

Jozu frowned at the retreating body of the boy who he had now deemed the rudest of the three. "What did I say?" He wondered out loud, feeling slightly hurt.

"Alone, outsider, wanting a family…" Sabo's eyes clouded over slightly as he gave Jozu a contemplative look. "That was…" He tilted his head to the side as though trying to see inside of Jozu by somehow removing his exterior and seeing his past.

Jozu twitched slightly. "What was it?" He pressed, wondering internally if he truly wanted to know what Sabo thought it to be.

"…Interesting." The blond finally ended and turned to Luffy. "Don't say anything, okay, Lu?"

Luffy gave Sabo a slightly surprised and resigned look. "Alright." He agreed. "But Ace…"

"I'll go after him. You stay with Jozu-san… wait… no—Luffy, actually, how about _you_ go find Ace and talk to him a little, okay? I'll stay here with Jozu-san for a little while as you go sort things out with Ace, okay?"

"Erm, alright…" Luffy gave Jozu a slightly hesitant look, as though afraid that the moment he left Jozu would dissolve and turn to smoke. "I'll, uh, just be going now… Jozu-san…"

"Go ahead." Jozu sighed, and waved a flippant hand. "Go and talk to your brother."

Luffy's eyes lit up at the word 'brother' as though he himself could scarcely believe that he was related to the grump of a child, and dashed off happily, shouting Ace's name all the while.

There was a long moment of silence as Jozu and Sabo studied each other, unsure whether to smile, frown, or simply bolt as far away from each other as possible.

Finally, Jozu wondered out loud, "Are you really related? Your personalities seem so…" He searched for the right word. Calamitous? Different? "…Conflicting." He finally decided, and frowned a little at his choice of words. "How could three boys raised together be so different?"

Sabo frowned. "We weren't raised together." He answered, and before Jozu could ask, said icily, "But we're still brothers."

"But not blood related?" Jozu dared to hazard a guess, and by Sabo's hardened expression he had guessed correctly. Jozu forced a smile onto his lips in an attempt to connect with the child. Damn, why was it so hard to do? "Then you'll fit in just great on the _Moby Dick_." He informed the blond with false cheer. "On this ship, everybody's considered a family. And Pops is… well, Whitebeard is our father. Or at least, we consider him to be our father."

Sabo gave him an odd look, as though he knew that Jozu's smile was fake and was attempting to destroy it. Finally, the child gave a stiff nod. "I see." He said, and cleared his throat slightly. "I mean, uh, that is, it must be nice to have a father figure…"

Jozu smiled at the boy, a genuine one this time, much to his surprise. "You'll start seeing him as your father as well." He told the boy with a quiet laugh. "I mean, you _are_ joining the Whitebeard crew, aren't you? You'll start to understand… sooner or later…"

Sabo frowned as he lowered his head. "Maybe." He said quietly, as though musing it over and bouncing around the idea in his head. "I don't know. But Ace won't see him as a father. Ever. Just so you know."

Jozu replied to that with an uneasy smile. "We'll see about that." He promised the child. "We'll see."


	4. One or Two Life Adjustments

**A/N:** Yeah. I know. Haruta's a guy. But I wanted a girl, because having all boys would be boring, you know? I would have made Izou a girl if it weren't a well known fact that he was a cross dresser. But there's one girl in this fic. Sorry.

"Ace?"

Raising his head, he sighed as he caught sight of a battered yellow straw hat. "How come you always can find me?" He wondered out loud, not sure whether he should be exasperated or just happy that Sabo had sent Luffy to talk to him. "Even on a strange ship that we know nothing about and have barely seen…"

"Ace is Ace." Luffy said simply as he sat down next to Ace. "You like small, dark spaces where you can hide and hide for ages and ages and nobody will find you and look down on you, right?"

Ace smiled and ruffled Luffy's hair. "You know me really well, eh?" He asked, to which Luffy replied with a wide grin.

"You shouldn't pretend that nothing's wrong, Ace." Luffy told him seriously, wide eyes meeting Ace's.

Ace mentally cursed. He should have known that Luffy would find out in an instant what his true emotions were. "Are you here to make me feel better?" He asked dully.

"Yes." Luffy replied firmly, as though there had never been a single speck of doubt of it in his mind. "Of course I will." Ah. So he had understood the question. Of course he was. Luffy and Sabo knew him better than a monkey knew bananas.

"I just… family. I don't need the Whitebeard pirates to be my family. I've already got you, and Sabo to look out for me. I don't need anybody else. I just…" Ace could feel the frustration building up. "I just don't know if…"

Luffy grinned as wide as he could in an effort to make Ace feel better. "You don't know if what?" He asked with a loud laugh. "We're brothers, right? We'll be together forever!"

Ace sighed and smiled lightly. "But if the Whitebeard Pirates all become your brothers and sisters then why would you need me anymore, Luffy? Wouldn't I be absolutely useless?"

Luffy's mouth rounded itself into an 'O' of understanding. "Ace…" He mumbled, and sat down, setting his head forcefully down in front of Ace on his lap and grinning up on him. "I _always_ need Ace. Ace can't be replaced, because Ace was Ace."

The way he said it made it sound as though it were such a simple, easy to understand thing.

 _Because Ace is Ace._

Wasn't this the second time that Luffy had said that? Did he know him that well?

Ace finally gave a small, helpless laugh as he ruffled Luffy's hair. "And Luffy's Luffy and Sabo is Sabo, right, Lu?"

"Mm!" Luffy made a content sound of agreement as he squawked in protest to Ace's rubbing his hair and batted his hand away. "And no Whitebeard pirates are going to replace Ace! We'll all just have a ton of brand new brothers and sisters, that's all! We'll still be ASL, no matter what!"

Ace returned the encouragement with a light smile. "You make it sound so simple." He sighed.

Luffy cocked his head to the side curiously. "Well, isn't it?" He asked, blinking.

Ace shrugged. "I suppose it is." He replied, thinking it over. Maybe he was just thinking this over too much. It was probably just as simple as Luffy said it was.

Luffy stood up and brushed himself off, then held out a hand to Ace with a wide, encouraging grin. "Come on, Ace. You can start over and be nice to people on the old man's ship now, right?"

Ace stared at the hand.

… _and be nice to the people on the old man's ship…_

Was he willing to do that? He had only come here because Luffy boarded it and Sabo had agreed to board (if only because he had been bribed with the thought of a library).

Was he willing to be nice to the people who he may one day consider enemies, the people on the ship of the man that had been the rival of his father?

He didn't know, but Ace grabbed Luffy's hand anyways, conflicted over if letting Luffy help him to stand up truly sealed the deal to have him show his manners to the pirates.

"Yeah." He agreed, swallowing the thick lump of his throat and wishing that willing it away could make it disappear. "Let's go."

Luffy's smile stirred up old feelings of guilt and wariness, but Ace quickly shoved the feeling down. After all, he had no reason to feel guilty, so why feel it?

He had no reason to be nice to the people on Whitebeard's ship.

Absolutely none.

0o0o0o0o0

Ace's jaw dropped open. "A bed." He muttered as he walked into the room, touching the bunk in slight disbelief. "An actual _bed_. Omigosh, Luffy, Sabo, it's a _bed_!"

"Yes, Ace, we heard you the first time." Sabo replied dryly as he rolled his eyes.

Marco raised an eyebrow. "Yes, it's a bed. What, you thought that pirates didn't have beds?"

"No, but… it's a _bed_."

"Yes, I thought that we established that." Marco replied dryly. "What, aren't you rich kids? Don't you sleep in beds everyday? Or are these beds too low class for you?"

Ace glared at him. "I only slept in a bed once, okay?" He muttered scornfully. "Let me savor the moment, jerk."

"First of all, wasn't that your house? How could you have only slept on a bed once? Second of all, is going from pineapple head to jerk an improvement? Am I supposed to be grateful or something, cuz I'm not!"

Ace decided at that moment to ignore Marco and instead explore his new room.

Luffy quickly scrambled up the ladder and perched on top. "I call the top bunk!" He yelled, looking excited at the thought of sleeping somewhere that was actually off the ground.

"I call floor." Sabo declared as he grabbed the blanked off the bottom bunk. "Sorry, Ace, but I call your blanket and pillow too."

"I can have to bed?" Ace asked in disbelief.

Sabo and Luffy shot him equally unimpressed 'well, duuuh' expressions, at which he sheepishly rubbed his head. "Heritage thing, remember?" Sabo asked with a roll of his eyes. "You were raised in Dadan's county so obviously you only slept on a bed while we were at the crazy old man's place. Logic, brainless."

"Who's brainless?" Ace muttered in an attempt to muster anger (it was obviously failing).

Sabo and Luffy decided to ignore him in favor of exploring their amazing new on ship room. "This place is awesome." Luffy declared. "Way cooler than Dadan's country."

"Where was Dadan's country?" Marco asked. "Wasn't the place that you lived in called Fuusha village?"

"Well, duuuuh." Luffy scowled and rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms. "Dadan's country was in the mountains! Fuusha village was in the _valley_. Are you stupid or something?"

"Well sorry for not knowing…" Marco grumbled sourly under his breath. _Brat…_ "Anyways, now that you've seen your room, is there anyplace that you'd like to go?"

Sabo looked away for a moment and frowned at the floor, as though trying to mentally ask the floor a question and was frustrated that the floor didn't answer.

Oh god, his imagination was seriously getting out of control… wasn't Thatch the one who was supposed to think weird things like this? Ugh…

"Well?" Marco repeated, feeling slightly irritated at the strange behavior of the rich children. _Aren't they supposed to be spoiled rich kids or something? Aaargh, I can't get a grip on them. Did I just think the word 'argh'? What the heck is up with me today?_

"Erm…" Marco was interrupted from his thoughts as Sabo spoke up, still staring at his shoes as though praying for confidence. "Can we… can we go to the navigation room if you have one? Or the library if you don't have one? Ace and Luffy might find them kind of boring but…"

His cheeks turned slightly red and he made a point of avoiding looking at Marco, who smiled in slight amusement. "But you like reading." Marco filled in the slightly awkward silence.

Luffy laughed. "Reading's so lame, Sabo!" The youngest teased. "Don't you want to move around and play?"

Sabo turned bright red. "Never mind." He mumbled as he pulled his top hat over his eyes. "It was a stupid question anyways…"

"I don't see why we can't go to the library." Marco replied casually with a slight shrug. "I mean, it's not as if we have to get to the other side of the ship or anything. It's only a few corridors down."

"I'll stay here." Ace replied as he stared at the floor, cheeks bright red as he glared at his feet. "I don't want to go to some dusty old library anyways." The last few words were muttered a tad bitterly, as though Ace were holding a grudge about something.

Luffy nodded in agreement. "Books are booooring!" He hollered. "All they do is teach ya useless stuff! They don't even teach you how to fight or beat up bad guys!"

Sabo stuck out his tongue. "You just haven't read any good books." He replied defiantly.

"Oh, those actually exist?" Ace replied, feigning shock.

Sabo scowled. "I wasn't talking to you, Mr. I can't read a single letter much less a word much less a sentence much less a—"

"I get it! I get it!" Ace replied defiantly.

"Mr. Moody." Sabo was still, apparently, holding a bit of a grudge from all the last jillion times that Ace and Luffy had made fun of his reading preference.

"You can't read?" Marco asked Ace in amusement. "Where did you live, an isolated forest far away from human contact?"

Luffy gaped at him. "Pinapple head, how did you know that!?" He demanded, eyes wide in… admiration? Marco swore, kids just didn't make any sense anymore…

Wait a minute…

Did he just ask how Marco knew?

 _Don't tell me…_ The blond groaned as the realization hit him. They had actually been living in isolation from human contact in a jungle…

"You're serious?" Marco choked out.

Luffy blinked at him before bursting into laughter. "Shishishi, you're face is all red, Pinapple head! Shishishi! Look, Ace, he's turning bright pink!"

"Hahaha, you look so lame!"

"Sh-shut up!"

Urgh, why were these brats on board again?

0o0o0o0o0

"Pineapple head?" A soft whisper drew Marco from his book.

With a groan the man turned around, lips clamped shut as he reminded himself that the brats weren't _purposely_ testing his patience.

Or, at least, he was pretty _sure_ that they weren't… if they were doing this on purpose then he was going to swear vengeance and haunt them to their graves.

"Yes?" He ground out as he turned to the previously all-too-hyper youngest of the three overall irritating brothers hanging upside down from… what the heck _was_ that thing?

"I'm bored." The dark haired child informed him in a rather serious voice, a high whine at the end as though this signaled the end of the world.

"And what do you expect me to do about that?" Marco asked in reply, mentally grounding his teeth when he realized that he was fighting hard to keep calm, and, unfortunately, currently losing.

The boy cocked his head to the side and gave Marco a wide, mischievous smirk. "Can you teach me how to fight?" He asked, somehow calling forth wide, shiny puppy dog eyes.

It was rather unfortunate for Luffy that he had picked Marco of all people to ask the question, as the first mate didn't even have to think about it before stoically replying, "No way."

Luffy pouted as he pushed himself off… whatever thing he was hanging upside down from and flipped over, impressively landing on his feet.

"Pleeeease?" The child begged, cocking his head to the side as his lower lip began to wobble in a dangerous plea.

"Go bother somebody else, kid."

Luffy scowled and stuck out his tongue. "Don't wanna." He replied stubbornly as he wrinkled his nose and began to pull at a finger before stopping, as though he realized that his body weren't made of rubber or something stupid like that. "I want _you_ to teach me how to fight, pineapple head!"

"If you want me to teach you how to fight you should stop calling me pineapple head." Marco replied with a grumble of irritation as he attempted to ignore the 8 year old.

It was rather unfortunate, however, that it didn't work.

"Alright, Mister!" Luffy replied eagerly.

"…Don't tell me that you forgot my name because if you did…" Marco cut himself off, mentally reprimanding himself. After all, mentally scarring an 8 year old for life just because he had a short fuse wasn't exactly the way to go.

"What's your name?"

Was he going to have to deal with this curse for the rest of his life?

"AAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!"

 **A/N:** Whenever fanfiction authors put up "sorry, I was sick" as an excuse for a late chapter, it used to confuse me. Because sickness=stay at home=more free time, right? Since the only 'major' sickness I've gotten before is not being able to speak (perfect excuse to write). But then I got sick and all I wanted to do was sleep, but my head and stomach hurt and I couldn't even sleep because of the pain, and I started to feel bad for being confused. I used to think that sicknesses that made you weak like that were myths or for old people. Haha... (sheepish laughter)


	5. Severed Bonds of Blood

**A/N:** I've always wanted to include this phrase in a story: "Okay, in my defense, he was a total idiot."  
"What type of an excuse is that, idiot!?" And in this fic I might have a chance to! Yay!

How many times had he tried to do this?

On second thought, he didn't want to know. He had tried this so many times… and still, it wasn't working.

Marco gritted his teeth as he watched Luffy make yet _another_ failed attempt at giving the straw dummy a roundhouse kick, turn his body too much, and end up face down on the ground.

In a second the child was up, spitting dirt, nose scrunched up in concentration as he made yet another botched attempt at hitting the dummy.

The blond man buried his face in his hands. Oh, why was he cursed to be given this fate? "You're still angling yourself wrong." He muttered into his hands, not even bothering to try to see if his muffled words were reaching the boy.

Chances were that he was being ignored. Again.

"You have to put your weight on your foot. When you turn you're turning your waist and twisting your shoulders so that you don't lose your center of balance. Make sure to bend your knees so that you can fully control your movements, even stopping your kick a millimeter before it reaches your opponent…"

He dared to peek through his fingers and gaped when he realized that Luffy was _actually listening_ and paying attention to what he was saying! It was a miracle!

Luffy blinked at him before smiling a wide smile that seemed too big to fit on his face and laughed. "Ah, thanks, Pi- Marco!"

Marco's eyebrow twitched. _He was about to say Pineapple head, wasn't he?_ He wondered to himself knowingly, sighing when he realized that the horrid nickname wasn't going to go away anytime soon.

Oh Kami, and Thatch had taken to calling him 'The Great Pineapple Turkey of Fire' every time that he saw Marco too…

The blond gave a weary sigh and rubbed tiredly at his temples. _I need a break from this craziness…_

"But if you take a break from the craziness then it's a break from everyone else, right?" Marco let out a yelp of surprise when he realized that he had spoken out loud.

… _Marco, you idiot! Did you just say that out loud!?_ "W-what do you mean by that?" He asked Luffy, trying not to feel surprised at how he hadn't noticed the child walk in front of him.

Luffy cocked his head to the side. "Well, we're all a little crazy, right?" He asked with a bright smile. "Or at least that's what Makino told Dadan. And if you need a break from them, you'd need a break from your family, right? I think that you don't need breaks from your family… you just need to learn how to accept them, craziness and all."

The child's impossibly wide smile grew even more as he clasped two hands over his heart.

"I mean, that's why you're family, right?" The boy asked softly. "You'll accept each other no matter what… so you just need to learn that the craziness is alright. It doesn't matter if it's hard at first—eventually, we learn that we're all the same anyways, so it doesn't matter, right?"

Marco gaped at Luffy. "Y-yeah." He finally stuttered, his voice slightly strained.

 _When did the kid get so smart?_ He wondered to himself.

"H-how did you know all that anyways, kid?" Marco asked, bending his knees slightly so that he was on eye level with the pipsqueak.

The little brat responded with a roll of his eyes, seeming to think _is this guy an idiot or what?_ Marco mentally grimaced at the thought, but tried to hear the kid out before jumping to hotheaded conclusions like a certain _someone…_ (*cough*Haruta*cough*).

"Isn't it obvious?" Luffy asked with a sigh as though thinking _what are we going to do with this guy? Siiigh._ "I mean, Ace is a grumpy head and waaay too overprotective, and Sabo's booky and can go into boring mode sometimes, but I'm also 'too hyper for my own good',"

—(Marco placed a hand over his mouth to stifle the laughter that was threatening to burst out any second.)—

"and I might be a person who blurts things out a lot, but we're still brothers despite that, you know?"

Marco gave Luffy a small smile. "I see your point." He conceded. "Though your situation is different from mines. We may be brothers and sisters on this ship, but almost none of us are related by blood. Even though our bonds are holding us tightly together, you and your brothers are different."

"But—I'm not related to Ace and Sabo." Luffy replied, blinking innocently.

"…You aren't?"

"Nope."

"…This explains a lot, come to think of it… for example your last names… your differences in speech… but wait a minute! You and Ace look really similar! How are you going to explain that?"

Luffy gave him a deadpan look. "Pineapple head," He said, his voice still and forming words in all the seriousness that an eight year old could have. "A lot of people have black hair and black eyes. And just because we all have 'D' as our middle name doesn't mean anything."

"…You're a D?" Marco asked faintly.

Luffy shot him a 'well duuuuh' look. (Which Marco didn't appreciate due to him being many years Luffy's senior and knowing a lot more than that little brat, thank you very much!) "My name is Monkey _D._ Luffy. Ace's name is Portgas _D._ Ace. Sabo's the only one who doesn't have a D in his name, come to think of it…"

"Ah." Marco said in a small voice. "That's nice to know…"

Luffy grinned at him. "But that's alright, because we're still real brothers! We exchanged sake cups so now we're brothers! And Sabo and Ace don't like their meany families anyways, so it's all good now!" Luffy gave Marco the thumbs up, as though that made this all just fine and dandy.

Which, obviously, made this entire situation even _more_ confusing.

"So you like your family, then, Luffy?" Marco asked in amusement and he ruffled the boy's hair, wondering vaguely why he suddenly felt the urge to protect the boy from something. "What are they like?"

Luffy blinked at him with wide eyes of surprise. "I didn't say that I like my family." He replied, blinking in slight confusion. "Why would you say that I like my family?"

"You don't?" Marco asked in surprise. "What are they like, then?"

A look of bewilderment crossed Luffy's face. "Well… I don't know my mom or dad but jii-chan's really scary and he always hits me so I don't like him. But I guess that Makino is kind of like my mom and Shanks said that we could be family if I wanted to but all he does is laugh at me and acts mean to me."

"Ah." Marco muttered, not quite sure how he should respond to Luffy's rapid fire speech. "That's too bad."

Luffy cocked his head to the side. "What is?" He asked curiously.

"…Never mind. Wait a minute… did you say that your grandfather hits you? Isn't that Child Abuse? That's illegal, you know. You should report it to the authorities."

Luffy looked even more confused than ever. "Child Abuse? Report jii-chan to the authorities? Oh, no! He hits me because he wants me to become a strong marine but I want to be a pirate instead. And since he's highly ranked in the Navy, Ace says that jii-chan _is_ the authorities."

"…Who is your grandfather anyways?" Marco asked with a sigh as he waited patiently for a name that he didn't recognize to come spouting out of Luffy's mouth. He certainly didn't except the answer that he received.

"Uh, jii-chan's name? It's Garp. Monkey D. Garp."

"…WHAT!?"

Oh Kami. Luffy was the son of Garp. And suddenly, Luffy's crazy personality and amazing strength made a lot more sense.

The grandson of Garp the Fist. Now only to find out who Sabo and Ace's blood families were…

0o0o0o0o0

"I want to be stronger." Ace muttered when Sabo asked why he was brooding. With a sigh Sabo sat down and gave him an expectant look, as though saying 'Well, I'm right here and telling me your problems has _got_ to be slightly more exciting than glaring at a wall.'.

"Uh, not to be rude or anything, but _duh_." Sabo replied with a roll of his eyes. "Don't we all? I mean, after the incident with Bluejam and then the incident with the Tenryubito and Dragon-sama…" The blond put a ginger hand over his stomach and gave Ace a wide grin. "That's never going to happen again, right?"

"But I have limits to how much I can fight…" Ace murmured as he placed a hand to his forehead, eyebrows drawing together in concern. "And seeing Whitebeard's crew… it made me want to be even _more_ stronger. I'm still weak… I want to catch up to _that man_ …"

Sabo rolled his eyes. "Duuuuh." He repeated. "Are you an idiot, Ace? We're all going to get stronger… don't worry about it. We'll keep challenging the world, and in the end we'll have conquered all of it. Luffy will be Pirate King, I'll have exposed the lies of the nobles and found the truths, and you'll have finally realized that you're worth something."

Ace shrugged. "I dunno if I'm worth anything." He mumbled as he gave his feet a questioning look, as though wondering if his shoes would give him the answers to all his questions. "I mean… when you were gone, I was absolutely useless as an older brother to Luffy… and with Bluejam I hesitated for so long… and then again, I let that stupid Tenryubito fire on you and after that I—"

"I get it, Ace." Sabo cut in, voice sharp in anger.

Ace's eyes flickered over to Sabo's wide in confusion and tinged with slight fear that he had angered his blond brother, then drooped back down to the floor as he prepared himself for a verbal assault, squeezing his eyes shut in preparation. "Yes, sir." He muttered glumly. "No need to lecture me…"

"I think that I _need_ to lecture you!" Sabo replied angrily. "All you can do is think that you're useless and have no reason to live! I already told you that I don't care if you're the son of Gol D. Roger or not! It doesn't matter, Ace! Who cares about the blood that's running through your veins? It only matters who—"

"—I am, right?" Ace cut in with a scowl. "I get it, Sabo. You've given me this lecture like a billion times, I know it by heart. But I'm not that good a person either—"

"Omigosh, don't make me go through listening to you whine about how you have a low self esteem and suck and all…" Sabo groaned. "It's a total pain." The blond gave a toothy smile and bumped Ace's shoulder encouragingly. "You're worth something, right, Ace?"

Ace cocked his head to the side and gave a small smile as he finally gave in and surrendered to Sabo's probing. "Yeah, sure." He agreed with a soft smile of contentment. "As long as I can be your and Luffy's brother… I guess that I do have some worth, even if I am the son of Gol D. Roger."

He had barely managed to finish speaking before there was a loud crashing sound and a squeal of fear.

Eyes wide in shock, Sabo and Ace turned around, slow and hesitant as they turned to stare at a shocked Haruta pick up a small sack with trembling fingers.

"I'm—I'm sorry!" She blurted. "I didn't mean to listen in… I swear! I was just going to put this away but you two were in here and talking about something that I thought might have been important so I thought that I'd just wait for you two to stop talking and… I'm so, so sorry!"

Ace stared at Haruta in numb shock, his face a pale shade of milky white. His mouth parted to form five shaky words, their tone a hoarse whisper of fear.

"How much did you hear?"

 **A/N:** You're all such nice people. Some people were concerned about me being sick, and Neo Rulez even went and reviewed every chapter! So here's a bonus(ish) chapter. Be warned, the next one won't come out for a while!


	6. Impossible Trust

**A/N:** Okay, fine, I lied when I said it would be a while until I next updated. Sorry for lying. I hope you enjoy. *bow*

" _How much did you hear?"_

Haruta held both hands over her mouth as she stared at the ground, her form seeming to fold into herself. "I swear that I didn't really hear anything… I was tuning it all out, really! And I didn't mean to do this either…. I…"

Sabo sank to the floor, his legs suddenly feeling weak and unable to support his weight. The words seemed to go through one ear and out the next as he whispered numbly to himself a fearful, "She heard. She heard. We worked so hard to keep this a secret and now…"

Ace's hands tightened against his metal staff. He leaped forwards and aimed the staff at Haruta's head, stopping and sinking to the floor when Haruta dodged. _Dammit…_ He mentally swore. _My body's not obeying what I want it to do…_

"I won't tell anybody!" Haruta exclaimed. "I promise! Really! Look, even if they do find out it's not like you're going to be in trouble or anything but…" She peeked shyly at Ace and gave him a sheepish grin. "So, you're Gol D. Roger's kid, eh? Son of the King of Pirates… well, would you fancy that?"

Ace glared at her. "I am _not_ his son." He growled.

Sabo gave Ace a wry, almost "Do I even dare?" type of look. "Well, _technically_ …" He said slowly, tapping his chin in thought. "I mean, if you go by blood…"

"And then I suppose that you're related to the Nobles of High Town?" Ace asked icily.

Sabo's features became cold and closed off and he surrendered. "You're right." He agreed, face like stone, eyes burning in fury. "You have almost absolutely no relation to that man."

"…You're the son of a Noble, Sabo?" Haruta asked in surprise. "Then why would you want to be a pirate and expose the Nobles—oh, I see… you're going through the rebellious stage, aren't you?"

"Shut up!" Sabo snarled before looking away with a scowl. "You can't tell anybody about this, okay? If you do…"

Haruta held up her hands in surrender and nodded quickly. "Don't worry about it." She repeated in an attempt to be reassuring. "You can trust us. We won't hurt you for a reason as stupid as your lineage... really."

Ace nodded once, then slumped over, exhausted. At Haruta's wide eyed look of terror Sabo let out a small laugh of amusement. "Don't worry, he's not dead." He informed her. "He's probably just exhausted… he couldn't sleep last night because he was suspicious of you all." Yes... a small bit of truth. A small price to pay for the possibility of them discovering another one of Ace's weaknesses. _Though narcolepsy isn't that hard to figure out... all we can do is stall for time._

Haruta's eyes fell in disappointment. "Oh." She said softly, her voice falling as though she were sad about something. "Are we…" She gnawed on her bottom lip and looked away as though hurt. "…Are we really that bad? Do you really need to be so suspicious of us?"

Sabo's small smile fell and his eyes flickered over to Ace. "Need?" He asked in contemplation. "I don't suppose I really need to do anything… except for eat and drink, I suppose. But for Ace and Luffy…" His breath caught and the blonde's eyes widened in surprise, as though shocked that he had even started to talk about it. "I— Never mind. I can't tell you…"

Haruta narrowed her eyes and leaned forwards. " _Why_?" She pressed angrily. "Why would you even come on our ship on the first place if you would lose sleep worrying over trust issues? Why come on the ship of the strongest and worry about your life when you know you wouldn't have a chance in a fight?"

Sabo gave her a lopsided grin, his eyes regaining their amusement. "Isn't it obvious?" He asked with a slightly sheepish laugh. "It's because Luffy wanted to. And with his brother complex Ace couldn't help but comply… since Lu's going to become the pirate king, and all. He should trust him but…" The 11 year old gave a small shrug. "It's just so hard to. I mean, last year I—" His eyes widened again and he lowered his gaze. "I'm really talkative today, aren't I?" He murmured to himself angrily.

Haruta frowned. "How are you brothers?" She prodded. "Luffy said that you weren't related by blood… and that you became brothers by sharing a cup of sake, but really, that explains nothing. So how _are_ you brothers, in any sense? And why do you act so much like blood brothers would, hmm?"

Sabo glared at her. "We're brothers, and that's all." He said firmly, his tone one of angry finality. "Luffy needed people to look after him, since he's so airheaded… and Ace needs someone to tell him that they're happy that he exists, or else he'd go act suicidal and stop caring about his life again."

"And you?" Haruta pressed, raising an eyebrow. "Or are you just there, Sabo?"

Sabo's eyes glazed over, and a lost, somewhat thoughtful look grew onto his features. "I needed family." He replied finally as he turned to cover Ace with his jacket. "I needed someone to watch after me and… well, I guess that Ace is the oldest brother. He and Lu look after me. That's all."

Haruta allowed herself a private grin. "I see." She agreed slyly. "That's all, eh? You know, your situation sounds awfully familiar for some reason…"

Sabo scowled. "Don't act innocent and airheaded." He commanded her, irritated. "It doesn't suit you. You're referring to your crew, right? Your so-called 'family', with Captain Whitebeard-san as your 'father'. You call him 'Pops', right? I'm not falling for that and making the mistake of trusting total strangers."

Haruta sighed in disappointment. "I should've known that wouldn't work…" She sighed mournfully. "But I just had to try, you know…"

Sabo twisted his lips slightly, as though amused by something. "I'm sorry, but I don't really know. That's more up Ace and Luffy's alley—trying their best and refusing to give up, and all to that type of gist. I'm just loyally following along with them."

Haruta tilted her head to the side and laughed, giving Sabo a bright smile. "I suppose that it must be hard, being the only one of the brothers who's not a D, eh?"

Sabo blinked, and his forehead wrinkled as he shot her a puzzled look. "How so?" He asked curiously. "Does being a D mean that you're impulsive, stupid, unsure of how much self worth you truly have and sacrificing yourself for others? Because if so that fits them to a T, and yeah, it is hard being the only sane one…"

Haruta tipped back her head and laughed loudly. "Ah, you're a funny one." She told him with a wide grin, a smirk growing on her features. "Being the only sane one, you won't last very long here. We're all insane, you know."

Sabo groaned. "I guess that I'll deal with that when I get to it."

Haruta raised an eyebrow, obviously amused by something that Sabo couldn't quite understand. "Deal with it when you get to it?" She snorted. "Hah, kid! You're already in deep by standing on this ship! If you're going to be living with us you're already in it… and there's no way out of this craziness either."

The blond paled slightly. "A-absolutely none?" He asked nervously. "But you know, theoretically, isn't there some type of way that we may have even a 1% chance of escaping?"

Haruta blinked and gave him a long, hard stare as though a little surprised that he might even think such a thing. "Huh?" She asked stupidly. "What are you talking about? Escaping the craziness? Did you lose any brain cells by chance, kid?"

Sabo paled even more. Was that how crazy the idea of escaping the ship was? _I'm in trouble…_ But ah well. Luffy liked it here, so he supposed that it wasn't as if they would have a chance to get off of it anyways…

With a sigh, the blond ran a hand through his hair. "Why'd you do it?" He asked finally, his voice soft in confusion.

Haruta started slightly. "Do what?" She asked curiously, cocking her head to the side.

"You let three random kids onto your ship, and despite the fact that we hate you, you're still nice to us and provide for us… why?"

The brown haired girl giggled slightly. "Is there a reason for somebody to be nice?" She asked sweetly. "Can't we just be nice without some ulterior motive, Sabo? Or do you believe that there always has to be some sort of reason for kindness?"

Sabo glared at her. "Obviously you _must_ have _some_ sort of ulterior motive behind being so kind to us. Nothing in this world has no ulterior motives… except Luffy, that is. But he gets duped so easily, and is too honest to suspect a thing. _You_ couldn't possibly be like that."

Haruta frowned. " _I_ couldn't possibly be like that?" She repeated quietly, and tilted her head to the side. "Why?"

"Because the only people I trust are Ace and Luffy." Sabo replied coldly. "Everyone else has some sort of a façade… have lied and put on masks to hide their sins. Ace and Luffy, I can trust, because they're my brothers. You… you are nothing but a stranger."

And at that, Ace awoke to six cold words, and Haruta's tears.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Marco sat in a stunned stupor as Luffy gave the floor the most stubborn look he had ever seen an 8 year old give (which, he supposed, wasn't really saying much), peeking up at Marco worriedly every once in a while with wide puppy dog eyes.

"Please don't be mad at me, Pineapple… I mean, Marco…" Luffy said quietly as he tugged insistently on Marco's arm.

Marco blinked at Luffy and felt at his cheeks, wondering how intense the look on his face must have been for Luffy to think that he was mad. "Why would you think that I was mad at you, Luffy?" He asked gently.

Luffy gave him a slightly hesitant look, before smiling widely. Marco frowned when he found that the smile didn't quite reach up to the child's eyes.

"Because whenever somebody's quiet for a long time and thinks about something, it's because I've done something bad and they're angry and trying to calm down but Makino says that I'm like a tornado and Dadan says that I may not be as bad as Ace but I'm still a devil child and… are you sure that you're not mad? I talk a lot and the nobles and the people in the Gray Terminal all got mad when I talked a lot and wasted their time…"

Marco rubbed his forehead tiredly before sighing. "I'm not mad at you, Luffy." He repeated. "But besides that… don't worry, you couldn't do anything that's _too_ bad… (I think…) And you're not a devil child. And don't worry about talking a lot… when you talk, I promise that you won't be wasting my time."

Luffy frowned at him. "Do you understand the weight of a promise, Marco?" He asked seriously, his eyes intense and for a moment Marco swore that he could have felt some sort of haki… which was impossible at Luffy's age, of course. In that moment Luffy looked mature, and grown up, and his words were terrifying.

Marco had the same feeling as when Pops had held out his hand to invite a bored little boy and invited him to become his son… it was as though he were looking at a king. No way. That was crazy. Luffy was still just a little hyper, slightly idiotic, meat crazy little kid. Not a king. And _never_ like Pops was.

And yet, the feeling was still there, in his heart like a stone.

Marco started. "Of course I do…" He murmured. "A promise is an oath, sworn to the death shall it be broken. Right, Luffy?"

Luffy smiled again. "Yeah. This is the third promise that's been made to me!" He said cheerily as he seemed to almost unconsciously reach up and smile at the too-big hat in his hands.

"The third, eh?" Marco smiled slightly uneasily. "What were the first two?"

Luffy gave him a look of hesitant surprise, which was soon overcome by joy that someone would finally listen to him speak and not call him a nuisance (whatever _that_ big, weird word meant).

"The first was one that I made to Shanks." Luffy's smile turned wide and true, seeming to stretch too big for his small features. "I swore that when I became a great pirate I would return his hat to him… but until then, I can't see Shanks. The second was after Sabo died… "

Marco's eyebrows knit themselves together. "Sabo died?" He echoed in confusion. "What?"

Luffy started. "Uhm, he didn't actually die." He muttered. "Don't worry, Sabo's not a zombie or anything. He's just alive like normal."

"… Okay…?"

"Anyways, Ace swore to me that he would never die."

Marco groaned. "Brat, do you realize that Ace will someday _have_ to die, and if you want to be pirates he'll probably die a lot sooner than normal people do?"

Luffy scowled at Marco. "Ace won't die!" He declared angrily. "Ace is strong! And he promised! A promise is an oath until death, right? So Ace won't die! He won't abandon me and leave me and Sabo all alone again! He _promised_!"

Marco scoffed. "I'll never die? That's one thing that you can't control, kid. Your death will come one day… and you may try your hardest to prevent it, but you won't be able to. I can tell you that for certain."

Tears started to well up in Luffy's eyes.

It was the first time that Marco had seen so many emotions in Luffy, and had seen the one he would soon think of as a little brother cry.

It would not be the last.


	7. Destruction of Secrets

**A/N:** This is too soon... I need to update slower... slower...

How had things escalated so quickly? Thatch couldn't help the smirk that had settled onto his features… these brats were fun, rich kids or not.

Let's see… it had started out as simple sparring to see how to make the boys stronger. Thatch had challenged the three boys on a three-on-one spar, and smiling, Haruta and Marco had followed, crazy grins on their faces.

Thatch had soon learned why.

Ace had been eager to fight. Perhaps a little _too_ eager, but that was alright. Luffy was hesitant, but after hearing that it was just for fun and would help him get stronger happily agreed. Sabo had soundly refused, saying that he didn't want to show a prospective enemy his fighting prowess and had no reason to battle Thatch.

Except he had used even bigger words that Thatch couldn't really understand and had made Marco burst into laughter after being asked by Haruta what some of them meant.

So, what else could Thatch do? He taunted him, and insulted him, and said very untrue things about Luffy and Ace and cowardice.

And now Marco and Haruta were trying hard to contain the three little fireballs after Ace had set out to do all but murder him.

Really, he swore later that it was all just harmless fun.

…Really!

Okay, so _maybe_ he occasionally (alright… fine, at _least_ twice a day… but, hey, it was in his blood, okay?) liked to anger people on purpose and laugh maniacally as he ran away from them as they screamed bloody murder at him, but he didn't do _this_ on purpose! Honest to Pops! He didn't know that the brats would react _that_ strongly about him saying that they didn't even seem like real brothers and didn't have a tight bond…

He was just trying to give them some incentive! It wasn't like he _wanted_ to be a human punching bag, thank you very much! And while he was a mighty and powerful (okay, maybe not mighty and powerful, but he was a handsome, genius of a power machine! …no, that wasn't an exaggeration, no matter what Marco… and Jozu… and everyone said…) commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, it was still against his honor as a man to fight kids!

So what if he was only 17 and they were 11? That was a whole 6 year gap between their ages!

And despite what Pops and _only_ 20 year old Marco said, he was sooo not a brat. Despite his prankster pride and childish personality, he was still not a brat. So what if he was emotional to the point of it being a little too extreme? He was born that way!

Ah, he was getting off topic, wasn't he?

Thatch grinned as he decided to give up on the game of cat and mouse (however amusing it was) and jerked Luffy's pole out of his hands.

…Or, at least he tried to. He had yanked so hard that it _had_ to come out of the boy's hands, but instead Luffy's arms had shot forwards and… stretched…

Gaping, Marco and Haruta stopped as well, dropping Ace (who the two had unanimously decided was the much more… _eager_ of the two and had teamed up against) in their shock.

Sabo paled considerably, and Ace's eyes turned wide in fearful surprise, though fear of what, Thatch couldn't really understand.

"L-Luffy?" Thatch croaked as he released the pole in surprise, sending the boy's arms snapping back as he fell down on the ground with a muted _thud_. "Your arms just…"

He shouldn't have been surprised. He could tell by Marco and Haruta's frozen expressions that they had realized this as well. In the New World… and even the Grand Line, Devil Fruit Users were there by the dozen and each island had at least one, even the seemingly uninhabitable ones.

But the bubbly, overeager idiot of a boy eating a devil fruit… on an island in the _East Blue_ , the weakest of the seas… in a place where there couldn't _possibly_ be a devil fruit user because a devil fruit couldn't have appeared…?

He was pulled out of his thoughts as he heard Ace and Sabo make their way to Luffy, Ace being faster as he seemed to teleport over to his youngest brother. "You _idiot_!" Ace growled as he punched Luffy in the head. "You just revealed your powers! Didn't we go over this? _You can't reveal your powers_! You're still incredibly weak!"

Luffy ducked his head, as he rubbed at the spot where Ace hit him. "I'm sorry, Ace." He mumbled regretfully. "I remember what Sabo told me… the nobles would buy devil fruit users for a lot of money, right? And I'd be in big trouble and maybe even Gramps wouldn't even be able to save me…"

Thatch tilted his head to the side. Gramps? Who was that? He blinked as he realized that Marco was mirroring his expression, tilting his head to the side, a small frown crossing the man's lips.

"Yeah… I think that as a marine, Garp is bound by the duty that he's not allowed to attack a noble. That's one of the iron clad rules… he wouldn't just be demoted, he could become an outlaw if he did that… though, I suppose, since he's a vice Admiral he'd be able to get away with it… and he _is_ a famous one as well…"

Thatch and Haruta choked at the same time, doubling over in coughs of surprise as Marco casually continued to think out loud. "G-Garp?" Haruta gasped out. "As in… Garp the Fist? _"Hero_ " Garp?"

Luffy raised his head in surprise from where he was obviously ignoring his irritated lecturing brothers. "Wow, you know Gramps to?" He asked in impressed surprise. "Shishishi, that's so weird! I mean, Gramps is scary and all, but he's not _that_ famous. I mean, he's a marine, right? And marines don't get in the news that much."

"They get in the news a _lot_." Haruta replied in disbelief. "There's more in the news about marines that pirates, kiddo."

"Nope." Ace smirked. "Who gets the attention for their bounties? _Pirates_. Why do the marines get in the news? Because of _pirates_. Who gets attention for 'revivals' and wreaking havoc?"

Sabo joined in, giving the Whitebeard commanders a cheery sing song shout of, "Pirates!" as Luffy gave them his impossibly wide grin.

"That's why I'm going to be the King of the Pirates!" He declared. "Because Pirates are _waaay_ cooler than stupid old marines. Marines have annoying rules and stuff, but the King of the Pirates is the most free!"

Thatch smirked. "The most free, eh? What a smart little brat."

Luffy puffed out his lips in a pout. "I'm not a brat!" He declared in response.

"Sure you aren't." Haruta replied good naturedly as she ruffled Luffy's hair, a carefree smile gracing her lips. "Though you know, you _are_ the youngest one here…"

"But I'm going to be the strongest, too." Luffy replied defiantly.

"Like the Kamabakka Kingdom you are!" Thatch stuck out his tongue. "No matter what happens, Pops will _always_ be the strongest!"

"That old geezer's going down one day." Luffy replied, his voice one of determination.

Luffy's determination, however, was ruined the next second by Ace punching him on the head. "Idiot. Whitebeard's considered the strongest man in the world. How can a weakling like you think about defeating him? It's like thinking that you can take down Garp."

"Well, I'm going to take down Gramps one day anyways!" Luffy scowled. "Then he won't tell me to be a marine and try to capture me, and he'll let me be the King of the Pirates!"

In unison, everyone else waved their hands in front of their faces. "Uh, no, that's not going to happen." They chorused in disbelief.

A fond smile tugged at the edges of Ace's lips. "That's alright, though." He sighed, turning to Sabo, a bright grin lighting his features. "Because we'll always be there for him, right, Sabo? We'll beat up Gramps for Luffy… and he can go on to be the King of the Pirates."

Luffy scowled and stuck out his tongue. "Like I'll need you and Sabo to help me beat up Gramps!" He declared arrogantly. "I'm plenty strong by myself!"

"…Yeah right." Sabo snorted. "You're the weakest one of us and you can barely throw a punch."

A strange look crossed Ace's features, before he coughed and mumbled reluctantly, "Actually, Luffy's pretty strong now and can take on most of the Grey Terminal gangs all by himself…"

A look of disbelief crossed Sabo's face and he started in realization, "You don't mean that…"

Ace made a point of looking away, whistling innocently as chills crawled up and down his spine. "Well, he turned out alright, didn't he?" He asked with a defensive scowl. "It's not like he was all alone either, you know. You don't have to worry about that… I was there with him."

Sabo's eyes narrowed in anger. "How could you?" He demanded. "Before it took all three of us to fight the gangs! Luffy could have gotten badly injured… and worse, _killed_!"

"I know what Luffy's capable of!" Ace returned angrily. "After the incident with Bluejam and you, do you know how hard we trained? I didn't know how to deal with him… and… And it was your own fault for dying anyways!"

Luffy widened his eyes. "That was mean, Ace." He mumbled quietly. "It wasn't Sabo's fault that he's a zombie…"

"I'm not a zombie." Sabo muttered, the word seeming to be a personal insult made especially for him, though it didn't seem like anyone heard that comment.

A look of dark confusion crossed over Thatch's features, while Marco's tightened in worry. Haruta gave a light laugh, though her brothers could tell that it was forced. "Ahaha, so Sabo's a zombie, eh?" She asked in a slightly breathless tease. "I suppose that he actually doesn't have a heart beat?"

"Of course I do." Sabo mumbled, his cheeks flushing bright red in embarrassment. "I'm not a zombie, either, you know, no matter what Luffy says."

"Oh?" Thatch asked, tilting his head and a cold smile finding it's way to his lips unconsciously. "Then I suppose that you have no trouble with telling us about your so called 'death', right, boys?"

Luffy shivered slightly, and wrapped his thin arms around Thatch's waist, his fingers slowly staring to inch together in a way that was inhumanly possible.

"Don't." Sabo whispered, and Luffy stiffened, and his hands quickly halted before they could reach each other as he turned his head slightly and gave Sabo a sheepish smile. Sabo's eyes dropped to the ground, and he frowned slightly in concentration. Of what, nobody else knew.

"Thatch?" Luffy whispered as he grabbed Thatch's hand. "Don't smile like that, okay? It's scary. Smile like you're happy, okay, Thatch?"

Thatch blinked in surprise, before a warm smile replaced the cold one, as though the ice that had thickened the tension in the room had never been there. "Ah, right, Luffy." He chuckled, ruffling the boy's hair. "Sorry… my face must have begun to forget how to smile! How silly, right?"

Luffy laughed in response, and Thatch picked him up, shivering slightly. _Don't do that again…_ He reminded himself. _When Pops adopted me, I let go of my past… I've got to stop doing that…_

"Ah, but we're off topic." Marco frowned, and turned to Ace. "So, Sabo is dead, eh? What a peculiar thing, seeing as he's right here on this ship with us…"

Ace's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "There was an… _accident_." He grounded out darkly. "And we thought that Sabo was dead. It turned out that he was only slightly injured and we had… _overreacted_. When we saw him again Luffy figured he was a zombie, since we had assumed that he was dead before. That's all."

"That's all, eh?" Thatch repeated quietly as he set Luffy down. The boy gave him a worried and slightly disappointed look, before a wide smile stretched onto his face and he hopped over to Haruta.

Well, that was all right if the boys weren't willing to accept the White Beard Pirates just yet. Because even though it was hard for him not to ask, Thatch knew that everyone held secrets of their own. Whether of their pasts, their thoughts, or their dreams… everyone had one of their own.

Of course, among his siblings, there were no true secrets. Perhaps when he stayed quiet about a prank, or Pops pretended that he wasn't drinking while the nurses put him on probation, but, truly, there was no true secret among their family.

Because everyone had secrets. And Thatch had learned a very important lesson not long ago.

Secrets were fine.

Because it didn't matter who you were… as long as Thatch waited long enough, he knew that he would figure it all out.

Because all that secrets needed were time.

Tossing a suspicious glance at the weary child standing before them, the redhead took a deep breath and steadied his gaze. _Yes,_ he thought to himself, _Though he may need more time than others… but that's fine. All we need is time._


	8. Night Mare-san's Visit

**A/N:** Sorry, guys, but after a long time of thinking, I've decided to abandon this story. Not. Anyone who has doubts, don't worry, I'll never abandon a story. I think. At least for the next century. After that, due to my immortality and fickleness, maybe I'll change my mind. Yeah, right. Also, you're probably wondering why Sabo said 'don't' to Luffy in the last chapter when they already knew his abilities. It was just instinct, because he's a paranoid idiot.

 _Thump, thump, thump_. The voices inside his head were like the steady beat of a drum, cold and merciless to whomever's ears they may be ruining. _Thump, thump, thump_.

 _You're nothing_. One of the voices hissed, before giggling loudly. _You're nothing but the son of_ that man _. Nothing but a devil child…_

Ace blocked his ears and squeezed his eyes shut, though he knew that it was futile against the voices. Somehow, they found their way inside his head, and nothing could stop them from getting in.

 _The son of the oh-so High-And-Might King of the Pirates? What are you talking about? He was nothing than a murderer…_ The voices were merciless, refusing to stop. _And you're nothing but scum._

 _Ignore them… ignore them…_ He muttered to himself over and over. But the more he tried to ignore deny their existence, the more they grew and the louder they became.

 _Those brothers of you? You poor thing…_ A voice said quietly, as though in pity.

 _You poor thing… you poor thing…_ The other voices crooned in agreement, soft and pitying, as though they knew a truth that Ace did not.

 _They_ care _for you? What a joke! They're simply with you because they pity you… and because they're_ using _you._

 _No they're not._ Ace screamed in reply. _They're not! Luffy's too honest and Sabo's too loyal… they don't care about my family…!_

 _That's what you delude yourself into thinking, isn't it?_ The voices sighed, as though he were a hopeless child that refused to see the light and realize the truth. _But you just won't admit to the facts…_

 _IT'S NOT TRUE!_

Ace bolted up in bed with the small scream in his nightmares, a cold sweat soaking through the too-big shirt that Thatch had cheerily lent him as a pajama until they reached the next island and would buy him a new pair.

"Mm… Ace? Is it morning already?" Luffy's quiet voice asked as he sat up in bed and yawned, stretching his arms in the air and letting out a squawk when they hit the wooden bedpost above them. "No fair…" Luffy whined as he looked above them. "I wanted to sleep on top first… but Sabo drew the straw. Darn."

"Ah… it's not morning." Ace mumbled, casting a small glance at the dark space beneath the door. "It's still not light out yet. I just had a nightmare… sorry for waking you up…"

"Ooh." Luffy said in a small voice, and then smiled brightly as he wrapped his arms around Ace in a comforting hug. "So Night Mare-san came to visit you, eh? Don't worry, Ace… once you defeat the Night Mare's evil magic, they won't come again until the next time that it's dark."

Ace snorted. "Where did you hear that stupid story?" He asked with a small laugh. _There's no way that Luffy's only my brother because he pity's me…_

"Makino and Shanks." Luffy told him seriously. "Night Mare-san is scary… but the reason that Night Mare-san comes to visit you is because she's lonely. She thinks that by being mean to other people, she can stop them from being happy and she'll feel better… but she really won't. Night Mare-san is scared of a lot of things, and tries to make other people understand her feelings by scaring them as well. But it never works, because they're too scared of her to face their fears like brave men should."

"Then does that mean that Night Mare-san isn't that much of a bad guy?" Ace asked in amusement.

Luffy shook his head vehemently. "No, she isn't!" He declared. "Nobody's all bad! Everyone has some good in them…. In _here_."

His brother placed a small hand on Ace's chest, over his heart. Dark eyes rose to his and softened into an even wider smile.

"That's why even when you tried to kill me I knew that you couldn't be all bad. Ace is like Night Mare-san, I think, in a way. You both try to make other people understand you… but unless you can truly confess to people the straight out truth, they won't be able to understand you. And until then Ace and Night Mare-san just cry all alone… but that's what Sabo and me are here for. Because we're brothers, right? So we'll always be together!"

Ace stared in numb shock as tears started to spill out of his eyes. Luffy's eyes widened in alarm that he had made his brother cry, but Ace smiled and gave a tentative little laugh. "Ahaha… you always know what to say, Luffy, don't you?"

"Shishishi! Of course I do!" Luffy replied cheerfully. "So Ace isn't scared of Night Mare-san anymore, right? You just have to remember that you're not alone anymore… and Night Mare-san will become a Good Dream, and she'll be less lonely."

"Yeah." Ace agreed as he ruffled Luffy's hair. "That's a great idea, Lu."

Luffy responded with a beam, as he added, "Makino also said that you should talk about what Night Mare-san showed you. Then we can separate the lies from the truth, and you won't believe in Night Mare-san's lonely lies."

Ace blinked at Luffy. "When did you grow up so much?" He asked quietly, a fond smile tugging at the edge of his lips. "Alright. Let's separate the truth from the lies, then…" He paused, and then hung his head. "Ah… never mind. Don't worry about it, okay, Lu? I can figure it out, actually…"

"Liar." Ace twitched in surprise as Sabo climbed down the ladder of the bunk bed, his blond hair seeming paler in the darkness of the night. "You got another dream where you downgraded yourself, right?" Sabo turned to Luffy and grinned toothily. "This stupid brother of ours is always lying, eh, Lu?"

Luffy laughed in response. "Shishishi, you were awake, Sabo? You're going to help in helping Ace get rid of Night Mare-san too, right?"

"Of course." Sabo answered, and sat down on the bed beside Ace. "You're not nothing. And you're not a devil child. Nor are you worthless, or scum, or anything that you tell yourself. And I'm not your brother because of some stupid reason like pity or manipulating you… I'm your brother because we stick together."

Ace hung his head in response, took a deep breath, then raised his head up and gave Sabo a shaky smile. "Yeah." Ace agreed with a hesitant nod. "I forgot about that for a moment. Sorry…" He gave a sheepish grin. "That was pretty stupid of me, eh?"

Luffy's head whipped from Ace to Sabo, before widening as he realized what they were talking about, and his eyes dropped in disappointment. "You can trust me too, Ace." He muttered quietly as he buried his face in the pillow. "Sabo's not your only brother…"

The words felt like a punch to the stomach. Ace's eyes widened. "I know that, Lu!" He exclaimed quickly. "I just…" His eyes drooped, staring at his hands. "I just didn't want to worry you, okay?"

"But isn't that what brothers are for?" Luffy asked dejectedly. "When I had nightmares about Sabo dying, and when I got hurt, and whenever something bad happened… _you_ were always there for me. If I can't be there for you then… what type of a brother am I?"

His voice sounded a little broken, and in that moment Ace felt as though Luffy's wide, always cheerful smile, may have been a mask all along to cover the fear of failure that Luffy considered to never become an option. But the feeling disappeared as quickly as it came when Luffy covered it all up with yet another smile, and Ace felt like a failure as a brother.

 _How come I hadn't noticed this sooner? What kind of brother am I, unable to help Luffy or even realize why I_ should _help him…? Sabo must have noticed…_ Because Sabo was the stronger, more responsible, kinder big brother that Ace knew Luffy much preferred.

"You're a little brother." Sabo replied quietly, reaching out a hand to gently ruffle Luffy's hair. "It's our duty as big brothers to protect you as our little brother, okay? If we make you worry, or feel like you're a bad brother… that's _our_ fault, not yours. We've got to be the adults, right?"

There it was again. Soft, kind words that comforted… words that Ace knew he could never speak, words that could never sound true or unforced coming from the lips of the hotheaded son of an outlaw.

Luffy raised his head. "I'm sorry…" He mumbled.

"Sorry for what?" Ace asked curiously. "If anything, it should be me that's sorry…" He scowled. "For waking you up after having a nightmare, and all."

Luffy gave him a wounded look. "But if you didn't have wake us up after having your nightmare, that would make you feel lonely, right? And I don't want Ace to feel lonely… I want you to feel happy that we're your brothers. And… I got you guys worried about me, too…"

"I'd never _not_ feel happy that you're my brothers." Ace replied, ruffling Luffy's hair. "And aren't you being a hypocrite by saying that? You want to be able to worry about me, but you won't let us worry about you?"

"Don't be stupid, little brother." Sabo snorted, and gave Luffy a wide smile. "What do you think we're here for?"

Yeah. He was happy… Ace allowed himself a small smile of contentment as the three ended up scrunched up together on the bottom bunk. Ace's eyes flickered over to the stilling forms of Sabo and Luffy.

 _I'm glad that I met you_.

0o0o0o0o0

For Sabo, it had been a restless sleep. Hearing his older brother stir, even though he regretfully knew that it was due to the sweat drenching fears of a nightmare, was a welcome change to staring at the ceiling. For a while, Sabo said nothing, but listened to Ace and Luffy speak to each other without knowing of Sabo lying awake.

He usually did this. He had been raised to say nothing. And so he didn't. But Sabo listened, and when he listened he tried to hear the true thoughts when people spoke. Ace and Luffy spoke differently, and yet, their thoughts were similar.

Though Luffy was simpleminded and easy to read, there were moments where Sabo felt as though his smile were there for the sake of those watching and his laugh was slightly pained, and in those moments it felt the same as though he were speaking to Ace.

Ace, who's entire life was built on stepping stones of anger and hatred, made of secrets and his sanity probably held together only by his brothers… he couldn't have been more different from the overly eager Luffy. And yet, in his core, there was the same cry of loneliness that sent chills down Sabo's spine.

What scared him was that Sabo knew that he was no different from his brothers. He, too, hid things behind smiles, lying to cover up his fears, and smiling to cover up the lies. And he, too, hated his parents like Ace did.

 _We're all different_. He reflected, though with regret or not, he couldn't be sure. _None of us are the same… and all of us need each other._ But that was alright. Because Sabo knew that needing each other was why they were brothers, the three who would become inseparable until death came along.

He heard Ace's voice brush Luffy's concerns off, as though the worry of a brother were unneeded, and Ace didn't want to worry Luffy.

Sabo felt anger spike inside him for a moment, before fading away and leaving behind nothing but an empty feeling of loneliness. So he hopped down and chided Ace for thinking of himself as worthless again, and watched in what should have been horror, but had turned to relief, as Luffy finally allowed himself to spill his worries to his brothers.

There was no need to hide their secrets, or mask their lips and train themselves to smile. Because they were brothers, and they could lean on each other's shoulders.

And on the slightly hot, stuffy bottom bunk with his brothers, Sabo fell asleep with a smile of joy that he hadn't felt in a long, long time.

 _I'm glad that I have brothers._

 **A/N:** Can I add that you guys are awesome? I have over a hundred favorites and reviews. And not just combined. BY THEMSELVES. That's awesome. Maybe not to anyone else, but having more than 10 readers to me is awesome. You guys rock. I don't deserve readers, and you're still nice enough to do that... alright, weirdo is shutting up. Let me stop crying in happiness, and once everyone stops staring at me and asking if I got broken up with over email, I'll be cheering for joy and getting more weird looks.


	9. The Meaning of Family

**A/N:** I ate a yellow watermelon. And you all have the wonderful Vivianne95 to thank for this chapter. I totally forgot... (mortified) I'm sorry. I'll try to update faster next time...

" **Translation" Note:** Like the fire = like hell

He tried hard not to move, keeping his body stiff and his back straight. But eventually the burning stare that cut into him seemed to force him to surrender, and he met the child's eyes. "Alright." Whitebeard sighed. He had known that he wouldn't be able to stand up to those eyes, but still, you couldn't blame him for trying. "Fine. You can spar on the deck with anyone you want… just please don't hurt yourself, okay?"

Luffy didn't seem to hear his warnings, instead pumping his fist into the air with a loud "OH YEAH! TAKE THAT, SABO! HE LET US!" as he danced around, Marco trudging behind the child, a weary expression of _I surrender_ painted clearly on his face.

Whitebeard chuckled, unsure whether or not he should feel pity for his straight laced son.

Naahh… he was just happy that Marco was starting to open up a little more (and very relieved that Marco had yet to kill the new brats).

Standing beside Marco, the blond child's features were painted with surprise, and while Whitebeard saw disappointed reluctance in his face he also saw elation, despite his predictions being wrong. Reminded him of a certain _other_ blond, come to think of it…

"Oi, banana mustache jiji?" The smallest one hopped over to him, a bright smile stretching across his cheeks.

"What is it, brat?" Whitebeard asked, wondering if he should be amused at the nickname or start to feel too old at being called 'jiji'.

The boy gave him an even brighter smile. "Thanks." He whispered quietly, before beaming and hopping off to join his brothers, laughing as he punched the air and shouted animatedly about something.

Whitebeard allowed himself to smile as he watched the boys talk to each other, Ace's lips twitching as though unsure if he could smile in the midst of enemies but wanting to very badly, Sabo looking amused as he replied in what looked like sensible words to Luffy's animated chatting, and Luffy just laughing as he kept on talking.

"You like them already, don't you, Pops?" He turned to laugh as Haruta gave him a fond smile.

"Gurarara!" Whitebeard laughed in response. "You can bet on it, brat!"

Haruta nodded. "Yeah. At first Ace scared me a little, and Luffy seemed like too much of an idiot…. But… you know what, Pops? I think that they'll fit in here just fine."

Whitebeard smiled as he ruffled Haruta's hair. "Of course!" He replied cheerily. "After all, we're all sons and daughters of the sea, right? So no matter what happens, we'll accept anyone!"

Haruta smiled slightly sheepishly. "Yeah. Like a couple of weeks ago, when we picked up Thatch, he scared me too, if I'm honest… but now, I feel like he's always been a part of the crew." She closed her eyes and placed both hands over her heart. "He's part of the family already. And he's somehow wormed himself into my heart… in all of our hearts, I think."

"Of course I did." Haruta let out a shriek and leaped back as Thatch shot her a cocky grin. "After all, I am the amazing Thatch-sama!"

"And yet, you're only 16 years old." Haruta retorted. "Which, I can remind you, is still at the age where you're not an adult yet."

Thatch stuck out his tongue. "Don't you lecture me, Haruta," He grumbled sourly. "After all, I recall that you're only 17 yourself?"

"And _I'll_ remind you, the so called 'Amazing Thatch-sama', that you still have the mindset and maturity of a three year old… or perhaps that's too mature for someone as childish as yourself?"

Thatch pouted. "Haruta's being mean to me, Pops!" He whined.

It was too bad for his redheaded son that Whitebeard was too busy laughing at their cute bickering to really pay attention to anything that they were actually saying. And, while he was laughing, he was also relieved. Not long ago, he was sure that Thatch would have snapped and tried to kill Haruta, but now he trusted Thatch almost as much as Marco, who he had practically raised since toddler-hood.

Haruta paused and stared at Thatch, a small smile on her face, and Whitebeard could tell that she was thinking the same thing that he was.

Thatch stopped and stared at the two of them as well, a bewildered look on his face. "What?" He asked, blinking in confusion. "Do I have something on my face?"

Haruta started, and quickly shook her head, a smile almost as wide as Luffy's spreading across her face. "Nah." She replied happily. "I'm just proud to have you as my brother, is all."

Thatch turned bright red. "H-Haruta!" He spluttered. "Give a guy some warning before you say something embarrassing like that…!"

"Ooh?" Haruta gave him a coy smile. "Well then, I suppose that now you have some defenses up, you'd like me to say it again, right?"

If it were possible, Thatch turned an even brighter shade of red. "No." He mumbled. "Please don't say it again… I think that my heart's going to explode…"

"That's not good." A serious, young voice cut into their conversation, and Sabo gave Thatch a dark look. "Your heart exploding, and you ending up dead. But I suppose that if it's metaphorical it's quite sweet, and if it's a joke then I'll pretend that it's funny. Right, Ace?"

"As if." The elder replied icily. "How could an idiot like this be funny?"

"You wound me, Ace." Thatch pouted, fake tears rising into his eyes. "That's so mean of you… and here I was, thinking that we had a bond stronger than any other! Even stronger than Haruta's crush on Marco!"

" _You've got three seconds to live before I rip you to shreds and shoot a cannonball through your stomach_." Haruta growled.

Luffy popped out between Sabo and Ace, and gave Haruta an uncharacteristically serious look. "It won't kill him." He informed her seriously. "But it _will_ hurt Thatch. Right, Sabo?"

"Yeah..." Sabo spoke slightly absentmindedly. "And it'll take a while to recuperate as well, saying that you will survive. Oh, and…" His eyes widened when Luffy started to cry. "Ah… sorry, Luffy. I forgot about the incident…"

"Nice to know." Ace replied, voice dripping in sarcasm. "While we're here, with it as a horrifying memory of pain and loneliness, you went and _forgot_ all about it, you stupid idiot. Nice to know, Sabo."

"I'm fine." Luffy hiccupped as he quickly wiped everything away and gave them a wide smile, as though he hadn't been crying only milliseconds before. "So, banana mustache dude, you'll fight me, right?"

Whitebeard laughed in response. "Gurarara. You're 100 years too young to be taking _me_ on, brat!"

Luffy smirked at those words. "How about I try it out first?" He challenged hotheadedly.

He didn't manage to try it out first, however, because he ended up face planting the floor due to the connection between his head and Sabo's fist. "You idiot." Sabo growled. "You can't just go around challenging everyone you see to a fight, Luffy! There are some fights that you can't win."

"But Ace challenges everyone he sees to a fight, and you never tell _him_ to stop!" Luffy whined in response. "If Ace can do it, then why can't I?"

"Ace is an idiot." Sabo replied shortly. "So, obviously, you can't do anything that he does. For example, staying behind to fight with Bluejam's crew at the burning of the Gray Terminal— it was very idiotic and impulsive of him. But that just shows how empty his brain is, I suppose."

"Who has an empty brain?" Ace demanded angrily. "I'm not stupid, you are!"

"Now, now, Ace, don't call yourself stupid." Sabo chided, gently patting Ace's shoulder. "It's not nice to call yourself names. You should have a higher sense of self worth, you know." He was only half teasing, but he knew that Ace would grab onto the teasingly insulting part of it.

"I have a perfectly fine sense of self worth, thank you very much, Mr. Smarty Pants!" Ace retorted, his cheeks bright red.

Sabo and Luffy both turned slightly pink and started coughing very loudly, Luffy giggling every few seconds, unable to contain the urge while Sabo's shoulders started to shake slightly. "Like the fire." Sabo whispered to Luffy, who couldn't contain it anymore and burst into laughter. "Ace, you don't _have_ a sense of self worth." Sabo informed his 'older' brother dutifully, a small, teasing smile gracing his lips.

"Yes I do!" Ace replied.

"For example?" Sabo raised an eyebrow.

"…"

Whitebeard frowned. "Sabo?" He murmured softly. "Ace _does_ have a sense of self worth, and you two _are_ just joking around, _right_?"

The blond started and rose his wide eyes to meet Whitebeard's worried ones, his mouth opening for a moment, before he turned to Ace, eyes darkening slightly. "I can't say, sir." Sabo replied regretfully, his voice pained.

Whitebeard narrowed his eyes. "You can't say?" He repeated. "You can't, won't, or don't know what to say?"

Sabo shrugged, and for once the arrogant boy seemed slightly helpless. "Ace… let's be honest here, the reason that he's living is because he's trying to find out if he deserved to be born."

Ace turned slightly red at that, and leaned down to murmur something into Luffy's ear. The youngest of the three brothers' eyes widened in surprise for a moment, before a wide smile crossed his features and he gave an enthusiastic nod.

The dark haired child leaped over to Haruta, Thatch, and Marco, and tugged insistently on their sleeves before bouncing off happily, seeming to have found his place on Cloud 9.

Bemused, Whitebeard watched as his three children hesitantly gave chase to the children, Marco shooting Whitebeard a hesitant, but firm look before turning to chase after Luffy and Ace.

The large man turned back once again to look at Sabo, who was giving him an intense look, as though to see whether or not he was worthy of something.

"Finding out if he deserved to be born, eh?" Whitebeard repeated, raising an eyebrow, as Sabo's fingers danced in the air as though unconsciously, his eyes slightly uncertain. "Care to tell me why?"

Sabo's eyes widened at the question. "I would but—" He gnawed on his bottom lip, eyebrows furrowing together as though trying to discover something. "But… I can't, sir."

"Can't or won't?" Whitebeard repeated with a frown.

"Can't." Sabo replied firmly. "Ace—these things, those reasons—they belong to him. It's nobody else's right to speak of what belongs to Ace. But…" His eyes hardened, and their bright blue turned cold as ice. "It's _not_ his fault." The blond said angrily, hands fisting. "He thinks that he doesn't deserve to live but… I think he does. Ace didn't do anything wrong. So what if people he never knew did? Blood means nothing…"

Sabo's features crumpled in sorrow, though his knuckles had turned white from how tight his fists were, and his shoulders sagged slightly as he repeated the words, as though they were a holy chant to protect him from something.

"Bloodlines mean absolutely nothing."

Whitebeard smiled in agreement. "That's right." He agreed warmly. "We're all children of the sea. Who your father or mother is makes no difference… my crew is all one big family."

"Family, eh?" Sabo asked, tasting the word on his tongue, frowning as though the way that Whitebeard said it had defined the word with a definition that he had never used before. "Ace and Luffy are my brothers. Dadan's like a mother. They're my only family… but my blood parents call us family as well. Which one's the real family?"

He murmured the words to himself, eyebrows drawing together tightly just like Marco's always did when he was in deep thought.

"Why don't you figure it out?" Whitebeard asked, smiling.

Sabo started and stared at him with wide eyes."How?"

The whispered question, so full of awe and confusion, made Whitebeard smile. "A family is someone who cares for you, will sacrifice themselves just to see your smile, and when you're by their side, that place will be what you call home."

Sabo stared at him for a moment, and then he smiled. "If I go by that definition, then Luffy and Ace are obviously my real family!" The blond replied cheerily, laughing at himself. "I guess that it was pretty stupid of me to wonder, eh? Thanks, Whitebeard-san!"

"Come to me anytime you're worried, brat." Whitebeard laughed as he ruffled the blonde's hair. "And call me Pops, Sabo."

For a moment the blue eyes widened, before Sabo muttered a quiet, "Thanks, Pops." It was barely audible, but Whitebeard supposed that it would do for now.

Because whether they knew it or not yet, (they would figure it out, sooner or later), they were family.

 _When you're by their side, that place will be what you call home._

Because everyone that came on the Moby Dick eventually realized that the Whitebeard Pirates were family, and the Moby Dick was home.

 _Home is where your family is._


	10. What We're Here For

The feast had once been merely something were everyone ate and drank their fill, preparing their stomachs for a hard day's work and the next day to come.

But then slowly, the madness crept in, and before he had realized, utter chaos had ruled the dinner table.

Mainly in the form of three 8 and 11 year old children, who just happened to go by the names of Ace, Sabo and Luffy. They, the poor, innocently unassuming souls (okay, so they weren't _really_ poor, innocent, _or_ unassuming, but in this case they really were!) had taken the three to the dining hall, and set them down.

Ace immediately shoved the food in his mouth like a starving man, and when he had his fill from his plate immediately set to violently attack the plates of his brothers.

Luffy's plate was placed carefully between his lap, not that it mattered since he gulped it down (silverware and all) into his giant mouth. How he wasn't sick, Marco wasn't sure, and he set to reach a seemingly impossible wide distance (though it was quite realistic if you thought of it, since it wasn't as though he stretched to Sabo who was on the other side of Ace, but merely the edge of Ace's plate) for more food, specifically, meat.

Sabo ate like a gentleman, forks and knives used most carefully. It was quite unfortunate, Thatch was sad to say (actually, he was quite amused), that he used his forks and knives in a gentlemanly manner… on the food of not his own plate, but the ones belonging to his _brothers_.

And when the three little monsters were done, with eager little faces and mischievous smirks signaling doom, they set to eating the food of the rest of the ship.

And while on other ships it would have been a grand food fight, the Whitebeard pirates were a bit more violent and caring of food, and instead pulled out their ( _deadly_ ) weapons on children.

*cough cough* _Deadly_ weapons on innocent, sweet children!*cough cough*

Okay, fine, so they were neither innocent nor sweet, seeing as they had stolen the food of about half the crew (and there was only about ½ the crew in the dining hall at the moment, so everyone in the dining hall) and had made away, eating all the food, Luffy spitting out saliva covered plates when Ace yelled at him.

When they were finally caught Marco groaned, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. "What the heck happened to whoever was raising you?" He demanded. "You shouldn't eat food like that, stealing from other people!"

"Amazing…" Namur muttered to Haruta, who giggled at his next words. "It's like their stomachs got replaced with black holes from that tornado planet in New World…"

"I'm less amazed and more worried about how our food storage is going to last." Thatch grumbled. "Seriously, how do they eat so much? And Luffy was such a skinny kid, too…"

"He still _is_." Haruta pointed out. "Seriously, do you see those sticks of arms? And he ate so much, too! Crazy…"

"Maybe because he's so hyper?" Namur asked curiously.

They all tilted their heads to the side. "He's a monster, that's for sure." The all agreed in unison, nodding to themselves at the piece of wisdom that they had implanted in their brains. "They all are."

" _We_ all are." Haruta suddenly exclaimed. "I mean, we're all division commanders so we're all crazy strong."

"Riiight." The other two nodded in thoughtful agreement.

The others listening to the conversation sweat dropped.

The three seemed to have continued eating while running, shoving the food in their mouths at mach speed x 20 while dodging the knives, guns, and arrows.

 _Seriously, how have we not run out of ammo yet?_

Finally, Marco had enlisted Thatch, Aria (who, despite being head nurse, had a heck of fighting skills, even enough to ensure that all the commanders were in bed after a fight), Jozu, and Izou (who had helped him blackmail an amused Thatch to realize the consequences of a lack of food) to stop the little monsters.

Faces squished between the floor and the boots of their captors, the three raised their hands in surrender.

"Were you raised by wolves?" Marco demanded wearily, frustrated how he had lost all the fire he had intended to yell at them at, his annoyance replaced by weariness from the running. _How do they have so much stamina? They kept us running for more than an hour!_

"No, I was raised by bandits, actually." Ace said mildly.

"I was raised by my parents." Sabo informed them. "Who, though incompetent slugs of vanity and narcissism, are not quite so vicious or vulgar as to be complimented as wolves."

"Well, I was raised by gramps, and Makino, and Shanks, and Benn, and Yasopp, and the rest of Shanks' crew, and Dadan, and Dogra, and Ace, and Sabo, and once Mr. and Mrs. Bird fed me but Mr. Fox wanted to feed me too so he injured them and was about to kill them to give me as food but I got mad at him and then Mr. Fox got sad and I—"

"We get it." Ace interrupted with a groan.

"But I'm not done my story yet!" Luffy protested.

"How did we get from Marco asking about who raised you to Luffy telling a story about a fox and a bird couple?" Izo whispered to Jozu, who shrugged.

"The brat's a little touched in the head, I think." He answered.

Izo chuckled behind his fan. "That's quite a rude thing to say, Jozu."

"You know it's true." The man grumbled in reply, turning slightly to look at the three brothers. "I mean, look at how happy he is. How do you smile like that without your cheeks hurting? You've got to be made of rubber or something to have a smile that wide. And there wasn't anything funny to laugh about either!"

Izo laughed harder.

"…You were raised by bandits?" Thatch choked out, joining Izo in his muffled laughter as tears came to his eyes. "How the heck did that happen?"

"The ****** gramps just dropped me off there after I was born." Ace explained crossly, folding his arms over his chest. "Seriously, and when he drops by to visit he either has a life changing secret or brings me a new brother!" Ace glanced at Luffy and turned bright red. "N-not that having a new brother was bad or anything… thought at first…"

"Oh yeah!" Luffy agreed cheerfully. "Those first months were scary because you kept trying to kill me, but it's okay now!"

Everyone tilted their heads to the side in confusion.

"Ace, trying to kill Luffy?" Haruta asked in a somewhat detached manner.

"I can't imagine it." Thatch sighed, shaking his head.

"He's too overprotective." Jozu agreed.

"He's nothing but a bro-con." Everyone said in unison, shrugging like it was only natural.

A vein popped in Ace's forehead. "Do you guys have an early death wish or something?" He demanded angrily.

"Bro-cons are too weak to fight well." Thatch replied sagely, nodding to himself as though this were a great piece of wisdom that he, himself had just discovered due to ancient rune writings. Of course, in truth, Thatch was just an idiot.

Because, obviously, Ace was a) quite strong for his age, and b) had quite some killer intent from his emotionless days of sulking and wallowing in self pity. Eyes narrowly, killer intent filled the air as Ace cracked his knuckles menacingly. "Thatch," he snarled. "Prepare to die."

Thatch froze, and let out a shrill "eek!" of surprise when he finally noticed the killer intent. "I… uh… Wait! I wasn't the only one who called you a bro con! The others did too, you know!" When Ace said nothing in reply, but kept advancing, the chef shrank back. "And you know that you _do_ have a brother complex! Just accept it, Ace! Hey—hey, Ace? Ace? AAAAHHHH! SOMEBODY SAVE ME! NOOOO!"

Sometimes Marco wondered how someone as stupid as that had managed to become a Whitebeard commander. _Doesn't he ever think about defending himself?_ He wondered. _But then again, with how he was raised I suppose that he was taught to never fight back… or even defend himself…_

His thoughts trailed off to the mute, heartless teenager that they had found on that island, and marveled at how quickly Thatch had become what he was, with his smile and loud teasing, seeming comfortable in living this life now. Sometimes the blond wondered if the redhead even remembered those crimson days that his life had been filled with before. Marco's mind went back to the words of the villagers as they described who Thatch had been.

 _His hair wasn't only red… the rest of him was, too. And they said that his heart wasn't black, like evil, nor white n innocence. It was red, but not like a normal heart. It was red because it was filled with the blood of those he had slaughtered…_

And now laughing, innocent and carefree, heart full to bursting with love for his new family. It was amazing how quickly he had changed himself, morphing to become the brother that now stood before them.

"He's really changed, eh?" Marco blinked in surprise as Izo walked up to Haruta, a soft smile gracing the man's lips.

"Yeah." Haruta agreed, and turned to Marco and Jozu. "Don't you two think so, too? It's only been two months, but already it feels like he's been here practically forever. And he's a commander to boot. Pretty amazing, if you ask me."

"He's a little hard to grasp, though." Jozu asked. "He's like… he's like a shape shifter. He can change himself completely to fit his environment, and he can change who he is. And sometimes I wonder if I can trust someone like that…" The man looked chagrined and sad, as though he were disappointed in his paranoia.

"Mm, but he's still your brother, right?" The four blinked and turned to stare at the smiling face of Luffy as he took Jozu's large hand and clasped it between his two small ones. "Even if sometimes he might make you feel uneasy, or like you don't know if you should trust his smile or not, you just talk to him. You smile with him, and you make memories together. And tell him how you feel. If you lie…"

Luffy tilted his head to the side, and his eyes drooped to the ground sadly.

"Won't it just make him feel as though he's a bad brother? Don't you want your brothers to trust you by telling them how they feel? Even if they don't trust you, it's better than them lying to you. Saying meaningless things like 'I'm okay, don't worry'… it just makes you worry more, right? Worrying's what brothers are for, right?"

For a moment there, Marco thought that the child had looked desperate, his eyes wide and almost fearful, his hands tight around Jozu's. _Please say yes_. He could practically hear Luffy pleading, before the feeling vanished so quickly that he almost thought he had imagined it all.

"I…" Jozu looked startled, and jerked slightly, before smiling at Luffy and nodding. "Yeah, I guess so. If Thatch didn't trust me and pretended to like being around me… I guess that I'd feel hurt too."

"Yeah." Luffy agreed, looking down at Jozu's thick fingers and his small, thin ones. "If they can't trust you with their worries, or share their burdens with you, it makes you feel lonely, doesn't it? It's as though even though they're with you, your brothers don't consider you a real brother. And it makes you feel like something hurts real bad, right here." He stretched on his tiptoes, and put a hand on top of Jozu's heart.

"Right here." Jozu echoed softly, eyes wide in astonishment as his hand rose to cover Luffy's on it's place over his heart. Jozu's face broke into a smile as he ruffled Luffy's hair. "Yeah. Thanks, Luffy. I'll go and talk it over with him, alright?"

Luffy's face broke into a wide smile as he nodded eagerly. "Yeah! You go and tell him, Jozu-nii!"

And he bounded off as though there weren't a care in the world to be had.

Stunned, Marco watched the boy, wondering if he were running away before they could realize that he, too, didn't feel trusted by his brothers.

 **A/N:** Did you like this chapter? It was a little all over the place. I'm so sorry. Go ahead and flame me if you want. If any of you want my version of a backstory for any of the commanders, go ahead and request one. I kind of hinted at Thatch's in this chapter by accident (sorry about that), and if it makes anyone curious, go ahead and ask.


	11. A Pirate's World

**A/N:** A lot of people asked about the commander's backstories, so I was a little surprised! I'm sorry, but I won't be including them in Forever Alive, though if you're interested, I _am_ planning on writing a story solely focused on the creation of the Whitebeard Pirates after Forever Alive is finished... so... please look forwards to that? I know, I'm lame... Also, whoever wants Marco's background, have you read 'Being Human'? I love it... Sorry... onto the story...

As the sun peeked in through the window and Sabo tumbled out of bed, he stared outside and took a deep breath.

It smelled like the ocean. The ocean smelled cool and fresh, and yet the smell of salt also clung to the air, a warning so it wouldn't be forgotten. The ocean, Sabo had always thought, smelled like freedom.

The world was a strange place, Sabo supposed. It showed a different side of it to everyone, hiding secrets and revealing them, all without a care. Everyone saw a way to change it, and some ways to not. It was never perfect enough, but at the same time it was just fine the way it was. _Everything hides a mystery_.

Absentmindedly, Sabo wondered what the others thought of the world. And with a broad smile worthy of being on Luffy's lips, he decided that he had found what he'd do that day.

After shoving dinner down his throat and being chased around by a grouchy bunch of crewmates (because though the chefs had made their attempts at making enough for the ASL brothers, their stomachs were similar to black holes in their constant hunger), he dashed into the kitchen to find Thatch, and asked his question.

Thatch leaned against the counter thoughtfully as he wiped at a plate before setting it down to dry on the drying rack. "What I think of the world, eh?" He asked curiously, before smiling uneasily. "Why would you ask a question like that, brat?"

"I'm not a brat." Sabo responded with a scowl, before answering the question and replying, "I was just curious. You don't _have_ to answer, but if you don't I'll pester you for the rest of the day."

"What a threat." Thatch snorted, sounding almost amused, before flicking the soapy cloth that he had used to wipe the dishes at Sabo's nose. "Don't get too cocky, brat. I'm way more annoying than an amateur like you. I'll answer your question, though."

Sabo smiled cheerily as Thatch picked up another plate to wash.

"Hmm… the world, eh?" The chef wondered out loud, before sighing. "Well, I guess that it seems like a really cool game to me. There are challenges left for you, and you can never seem to complete it, but you can win as long as you stick to your beliefs. If you lose them, you lose the game, but as long as you're alive, there's always the chance to restart and try harder. The only real thing to me in this world is…"

Thatch held out a hand and a fond smile full of contentment and love found it's way to his features.

"Pops and my family. I've only been with them for a while and yet they were nice enough to accept me… and if they didn't trust me, they told me outright. Jozu and I had a nice, long talk the other day, and it was nice to know how honest he was. At the end, he told me that I was a great brother and he was just testing me."

Thatch laughed, and Sabo was reminded of Ace after meeting Luffy. _It's as though all his old burdens were suddenly destroyed and wiped off the face of the earth because he met them_. Sabo marveled. _It's just like when we met Luffy. Is that what a family is?_

Of course it was.

"So, who else are you going to ask, brat?" Thatch asked cheerily.

Sabo blinked and laughed sheepishly. "I'm just going to wander around and ask whoever I meet up with." He replied, feeling a little embarrassed about how careless he had been.

Thatch replied with a good natured smile. "Sounds great, kiddo." He replied.

 _Oh, right._ Sabo remembered. _I shouldn't be embarrassed. Thatch is kind of stupid and care free, like Luffy_.

"Well, I'm off." Sabo waved. "See ya, Thatch."

Thatch waved with a soapy hand, bubbles flying everywhere and water dripping on the ground. As he left, Sabo heard the redhead mutter "Oops. Didn't mean to do _that_. Uuurgh, mooore chores. Eeeeviiiiil." and laughed to himself.

Alright, who else was there? Sabo stepped on deck, and felt his face connect with something before falling back and hitting his head slightly against the wall. "Oof." He muttered.

"Oh!" Sabo heard a surprised voice exclaim, before a quick rush of words were blurted out. "I'm really sorry, are you alright?" A hand quickly was shoved in front of his face and Sabo took it with a laugh.

"Yeah, don't worry about it…" He looked up. "…Oh, Jozu-san! Hey, can I talk to you about something?"

"Oh, uh, fire away." Jozu replied, blinking at him slightly. "Consider it my apology for making you fall, Sabo."

"Ah, don't worry about apologizing." Sabo quickly replied. "It was my fault for not paying attention. Anyways, how do you view the world?"

Jozu looked startled at the question, before frowning in thought. "Hmm… I guess that… it's like an uncut diamond, to me. On the outside it's rough and ugly, and it's trash for all anybody knows. But if you cut it right, and I'm sure that one day we will… it'll turn beautiful, and it'll be something priceless that everybody loves. Right now there's so much conflict, and so much to fix, kind of like it's a broken ship. But one day, we'll be able to fix it, and I'm sure that everyone will be able to smile freely. Pops was able to help me see that, you know."

Sabo blinked. There was that mention of Whitebeard again. "Thanks, Jozu." He smiled brightly. "That was really great."

"If it's not too nosy of me, may I ask why you asked me that?" Jozu asked curiously. "It seems like a strange question."

Sabo smirked. "Because I want to know the truth!" He replied.

Jozu blinked at him. "What does that mean?" He asked curiously, but Sabo said nothing and just smirked at him, before bounding off to find someone else. Jozu stared at Sabo's back, and shook his head with a fond smile. "What a weird kid." He muttered to himself, before continuing on to his destination.

The next people that Sabo ran into were Izo and Haruta, who were discussing different types of dresses, Izo trying to convince Haruta that she was a girl and to therefore wear something cute, and Haruta sourly responding that dresses were too stereotypical as something for girls.

Nervously, Sabo waited until they stopped their conversation to ask what he wanted, and asked his question. The two blinked at him slightly and then turned to each other, looking as curious as Sabo felt.

"Hm, how I view the world, eh?" Haruta asked curiously, tilting her head to the side with a thoughtful expression on her face. "Well, I guess that it's something that you oppose. The world will always be something that I oppose. The people have so much rules, and there will always be something that binds you down and chains you, trying to make you like a cookie cut into the same shape as everyone else." She gave Sabo a serious look, full of determination. "Don't you dare follow the world's rules, got it?"

Sabo nodded. "Yes, ma'am." He agreed quickly (because Haruta was a little scary when she was this intense… just a little, mind you. Because Sabo was super brave and strong, and therefore, he wasn't scared _that_ much.). He turned to the cross dresser beside Haruta. "What about you, Izo-san?" He asked.

Izo tilted his head to the side as well, a small frown on his lips. "I guess that everyone in the world has their own form of beauty." He replied slowly. "The world is filled with so much individual, unique beauties, all of which I want to see really badly. But the world government… they're opposing that beauty, trying to make everyone the same." He gave a sheepish laugh. "I guess it's a little like Haruta's, but… the world is something with hidden beauty, all the same. But it's being held down, hidden like a secret. I want to find that beauty, uncover it from where it's buried. Does that make sense?"

Sabo nodded again, feeling a little bit like a bobble head doll. "Yes sir." He agreed.

Izo let out a breathy laugh and gave Sabo a relieved smile. "Good to know." He replied with a light smile. "Talk to me again if you have any questions, 'kay, kiddo?"

Sabo smiled brightly in response. "Yes sir." He agreed cheerily, before turning and racing off to find somebody else to ask.

"Curious little kid, isn't he?" Izo asked Haruta good naturedly.

"I think that all kids are curious." Haruta replied with a shrug. "He's just one of the smart ones, who seems to know what the right question to ask is."

"The right question, eh?" Izo raised an eyebrow. "I guess so…" He grinned at Haruta. "Hey, what do you say we go and follow him?"

Haruta started. "E-eh?" She asked, blinking rapidly. "Uhm… to hear everyone else's ideas on what the world is like to them? B-but isn't that kind of personal?"

"If it were personal they wouldn't have told _him_ in the first place." Izo replied with a scowl. "Come on, let's go!"

Haruta sighed, and then laughed helplessly. "Alright, we'll have it your way. But I'm not going to wear a dress."

Izo scowled. "Rats.. and I bought that nice pink one just for you, too…"

When they caught up with Sabo, he was questioning Vista.

Vista had an arrogant smirk on his lips, and when Izo laid eyes on him he murmured under his breath something about the swordsman being a total barbarian, while Haruta just sighed and decided to be relieved that she wasn't the target of Izo's displeasure.

"The world's a challenge." Vista replied to Sabo's question. "It's a mountain to climb, and the stronger you get and the more you know, the higher you get. Pops is the only one who's reached the top, but one day I want to be there so I can be by his side. The harder you try, the higher you are. I want to reach the very top of the world."

Sabo grinned at Vista. "Thanks!" He said cheerily, before dashing off to interrogate some other crew member.

Amused, Izo and Haruta went to follow him, and eventually they bumped into Speed Jiru.

"The world's a race." Jiru informed Sabo. "But it's also something to persevere through. Everyone has their own pace, and they work hard to improve it until they're faster and faster. Pops lets me go at my own pace. But the world government is trying to make everyone dash when we're running a long distance, and it's slowing a lot of people down. Don't go full speed, but take your own pace, okay? Pops will stay with those who're behind, and he'll help them go forwards."

Sabo frowned. "What's with this obsession you have for Whitebeard?" He asked with a scowl. "He doesn't seem like that big a deal to me."

Jiru shrugged. "Perhaps not to you." He replied nonchalantly. "But to us, he's everything."

A conflicted expression found it's way to Sabo's features. "I don't get it." He replied, frustrated. "How can one man be everything to you?"

"That's biased." Haruta informed Sabo with a scowl, too furious to realize that she was revealing herself. "I mean, aren't your brothers everything to you as well?"

Sabo stared at her, wide eyed and mouth open, and then his mouth formed an 'o' of understanding. "Ace and Lu… yeah, I guess so." He laughed sheepishly. "I guess that it _was_ pretty biased. Whoops."

Haruta laughed. "Yeah. What Ace and Luffy are to you, Pops is to us. I don't think I could live without him, and the rest of my family."

"You have a really big family." Sabo mumbled, while Haruta giggled at that.

"Yeah, I guess that I do!" She replied happily. "I've got lots of people around me now!" Haruta paused, and gave Sabo a curious look. "Ah, that's right. I forgot to ask you, Sabo. What's the world to you?"

Sabo gave her a curious look, and a fond smile came onto his features. "Ace and Luffy _are_ my world." He replied happily. "Oh yeah. I'm going to ask more people." He informed her. Haruta smiled and nodded. Blinking, Sabo smiled in response, and went on to ask the next person.

 **A/N:** I'm sorry, this chapter must have been boring for you. I'll try to get another one up, or maybe a bonus omake. This is off topic, but I really want to write a story where Roger meets Luffy when only he and Rayleigh were together, and where Luffy travels with them. Shanks and Buggy would be Luffy's age, and Garp would be Dragon's brother. I'd twist some things, but that's what AUs are for, right? But I don't know if people would like it or not… maybe I should post it as an omake on Forever Alive. Would that be okay, or just a waste of space? Hm.


	12. The Grand Line!

**A/N:** Sorry for the late update! Sorry, sorry, sorry! It's got an AU Omake on the bottom... that's not related to the story, it was just a random idea... but I hope that you'll like it... I know, it's not excuse... and it's badly written... (starts facewalling) ALSO! Reviews! 100+! Me! Happy! You guys! Awesome! Me! Stupid! ...

Ace blinked sleepily at the dark horizon, then turned to scowl at Sabo. "Why did you bring us here anyways, so early in the morning?" He grumbled, casting an envious look at Luffy, who Sabo had yet to wake. _Lucky, being a deep sleeper_. The cons of narcolepsy: well, everything. But the one that he was thinking of: Because you could sleep anytime and all the time, you were a light sleeper as well, so you woke up easily.

Sabo grinned, and placed a finger on his lips as he pointed to the horizon. "Just watch." He whispered, as he whispered "Lu, meat, but you have to be quiet." in Luffy's ear and pointed to the horizon when Luffy awoke.

"I don't want to—!" Ace started to declare angrily, before turning and gaping as the sun started to climb from the water.

Starting as a small sliver of gold, it gradually found it's way up, casting light on the waves, turning the black water gold and blue. It was as though a hand were quickly painting the land, strokes of red and orange lighting the horizon on fire and burning the water. And, slowly, blue crept in as well, until it ate up the sky and conquered the world above, white clouds elbowing their way into the picture.

"Nice, eh, idiot brothers?" Sabo chuckled.

"Who's an idiot?" Ace demanded on reflex, while Luffy stuck his tongue out and gave Sabo a good natured punch.

Sabo smiled in contentment, shaking his head. "I'd tell you, but I don't think that it would be able to get through that thick skull of yours." He replied with a tease, yelping and quickly scrambling back when a fist slammed into where he had been moments before, the wooden planks breaking under Ace's fist.

"Let's hope your skull is thick, because if not I'm going to bash your brains until they're jelly." Ace growled, eyes narrowing.

"How violent." Sabo stuck out his tongue. "You're such a meanie, Ace!"

"It's your own fault for being such a bird brain." Ace replied with a scowl, crossing his arms over his chest with a 'hmph!'.

About three seconds later, the three brothers all turned to each other and burst into laughter, Luffy's the loudest.

They all froze as a loud _ka-thunk!_ rang loudly, and echoed softly, the sound riding on the ripples of the water.

"What the…" Sabo started, only to be cut off by a loud cry of joy as the man on watch cried out,

"WE'RE AT THE GRAND LINE!"

There was a small pause, before there was a mad scrambling as the three leaped from their position on the cabin roof and dashed to the watch tower, racing up the rope as they stared eagerly at the unfortunate who had the misfortune to be on duty that day, and demanded if they really were now on the grand line, and boy oh boy, how would they get past it?

"Uh, we go up the mountain on the water…"

" _How!?"_ Sabo demanded, stars replacing his eyes in his eagerness to learn.

The man blinked at them, before muttering, "Uhm… ask Commander Marco… I don't really know how it works. Since Commander Marco's our head navigator he should know… I'm just on duty, that's all—" He didn't even get to finish his sentence before there a gust of wind passed him by, caused by the three blurs that were racing towards the cabins to disturb the poor, sleeping Marco at 5 or so in the morning.

"MARCOMARCOMARCOMARCOOOOO!" Luffy yelled as he barreled in straight through the door, not seeming to care that there used to be a block of wood in his way (due to it's being shattered by Luffy's skull, it no longer would stand as a block between Marco's lack of privacy and the general public). "GRANDLINEGRANDLINE GRAND LIIIIIIINNNNNNEEEEE! YIPPEEEE!" The rubber boy happily raced towards the bed and set to jumping up and down on the poor, pitiful soul that was the now awake Marco.

Sabo sighed as he and Ace crawled through the Luffy-shaped hole that had been implanted on what was remaining of the door, curious as he blinked at the creepily too-neat room. "I think that he's already forgotten the main reason that we're here." He muttered to Ace, who laughed loudly in reply.

"Of course he has." Ace replied with a wide grin. "He wouldn't be our stupid little brother if he remembered."

"Boy, Ace, just wait until he hears that you called him stupid." Sabo cackled. "Your eardrums with be shattered in five seconds."

 _BAM!_

Startled out of their 'conversation', Ace and Sabo turned to Luffy, who had cheerily jumped from where he had been judo flipped onto the ground and cheerily clapped his hands. "Again, again!" He demanded.

"Why the hell are you guys in my room, and why the hell was Luffy jumping on my stomach, and why the hell is he not hurt by being judo flipped on the floor and why the—you know what? I'm going to go back to sleep. This isn't worth the effort that my brain is taking to attempt to figure out this scenario. Good bye." Marco flung the blanket over his head and promptly set to ignoring the three blinking brothers.

Sabo blinked at him, and then walked over to the desk sitting next to the bed and peered curiously at the scrawled map on top of it, eyes wandering over to the quill pen beside it. "I see, so this is how it works." He murmured with a smirk as he read the writing on the side. "But if this wind is constantly blowing, then when it starts to rain will it go upwards as well?"

"Yes." A muffled voice from beneath the blanket growled. "Now leave me alone."

"I see. Then how will hail form with the top being on the same height as the clouds? And the only reason the water doesn't freeze is because it's in constant motion, right? In that case, wouldn't the climate on the stream be unpredictable?"

"No." Marco's irritated voice snarled. "Because of the constant flow of the water going at an exact speed, the air's adapted to be able to follow without having too little oxygen or carbon dioxide. Now go away."

"Hm, so the reason that the map is drawn like this is to show the motion of the waves, right? Would the Grand Line itself be warm or cool?"

Marco's head popped out, and he sighed. "You're relentless, aren't you?" He asked wearily, shoulders slumping in defeat.

Sabo smirked in reply. "Yep." He agreed cheerfully. "We wanted to know how the Grand Line worked, but now we've basically got it!"

"Then why did you wake me up!?" Marco demanded crossly.

Sabo tilted his head to the side, a small, thoughtful frown on his features as though he himself were attempting to realize why he had woken Marco up. "I want to learn more!" He finally declared, face set in determination. "About navigating the Grand Line and how to map it out! I want to learn how the animals have adapted to live in temperatures, and I want to hear about how the plants have adapted to protect themselves under the water pressure at the bottom of the sea! And I want to—"

Luffy nudged Ace. "Sabo's such a nerd." He whisper-shouted to the eldest brother, who nodded wearily in reply. "Why does he want to learn all of this stupid stuff anyways? It's not like it actually matters."

"To Sabo it does." Ace replied, and then grabbed Luffy's hand and inched towards the door. "Come on, let's make our escape before the nerd's notice!" And fled out the Luffy shaped hole.

For a while, Marco and Sabo sleepily blinked at the Luffy hole, and then turned to look where Luffy and Ace had once been, then back at the Luffy hole, and then to the place where Sabo's brothers had been.

"THEY'RE GONE!" Sabo yelled in surprise when his senses finally returned to him.

"You _just_ noticed that, yoi?" Marco asked in disbelief, who, though basically a zombie before 9 (something Thatch said was surprising, considering Marco was usually so efficient), was still a commander had had some shred of his senses and unconsciously used his Observation Haki.

"Shut up, okay?" Sabo grumbled sourly. "I was focusing on the maps, not the idiots."

Marco blinked. "Focusing on the maps?" He repeated. "I see… you want to be a navigator, right? Do you think that these maps are okay?"

Sabo smiled as he peered at them. "I like these maps." He declared. "I think that they're amazing. When I grow up, I want to draw maps that look like these ones, and people will be able to go anywhere they want as long as they've read one of my maps."

Marco grinned at Sabo. "I made those maps, you know," He informed him. "Since I'm the head navigator. Most would consider it a chore, but I like drawing maps."

"Yeah." Sabo agreed with a bright smile. "It's like painting a picture of the world, and then people see it, and it's such a well done picture that they can travel the world just by looking at it."

Marco nodded in agreement. "That's what I like about maps. When you don't know what to do, maps will always e there to guide you. I'm drawing maps so that my family doesn't get lost." He turned to smile at the smaller blond. "What about you, Sabo?"

Sabo grinned. "I want to draw maps so that I can see the truth." He replied. "People can lie to you so easily, but if you have a map that you drew yourself, something that you'd seen yourself and written down, and remembered… you can trust in it. Maps won't lie to you like people do."

"I can trust in my family, though." Marco replied. "I think that they won't lie to me… and if they do, I'll trust them if they say that it's for a good reason. If you don't trust in people and only trust in yourself, isn't it lonely?"

Sabo shrugged. "I have my brothers. I trust Ace and Luffy. Those idiots think that they owe me some sort of a favor…" He snorted. "But it's actually me who owes them both a big favor." He tilted his head back, and smiled. "I owe them both my life."

Marco smiled. "I think that you'll get along great with the rest of the crew, once you decide to get Whitebeard's mark." He informed Sabo, who blinked and tilted his head to the side.

"You think so?" Sabo asked curiously, and then smiled. "Wait, what makes you think that I'll join the old man's crew? I'm going to be a captain by myself!"

"I thought that Ace was going to be the captain, since he's the oldest." Marco replied in amusement.

Sabo stuck his tongue out and scowled, wrinkling his nose. "That jerk! _I'm_ going to be the captain, and he and Luffy can go off and be whatever."

Marco's smile stretched even wider, and he coughed a couple of times to cover up his laughter. "Luffy said that he wanted to be the captain as well, come to think of it." He mused out loud. "Because if he wants to be the King of the Pirates, doesn't he have to be the captain of the ship?"

"No way!" Sabo protested. "No way, no way, no way! _I'm_ going to be the Captain!"

"But then you can't be the navigator." Marco countered.

"I'll be _both_!" Sabo declared firmly.

Marco grinned. _Yep, they'll fit in just fine…_ He paused, and thought about how all three of the stubborn kids wanted to be the captain of their own crews, and added a mental. _…I think_.

 **OMAKE –** This is how I imagine it would be like if Luffy wanted to be a Marine. Not related to the fanfiction. Sorry for it being set in an AU. But consider it a one shot, okay? I was bored... and I wanted to apologize for the short chapter... and... sorry... (mumbling nonsense and bowing)

"Luffy, how come you're avoiding us nowadays?"

Luffy froze at the question and quickly gulped down some juice as he blinked at Shanks. Sweat started pouring down his face. "Uhm…"

Shanks sighed. "Luffy… if you don't want to tell us then I guess we can just leave, saddened that our friend had never liked us, and hated us, and cry because—"

"Alright, I'll tell you!" Luffy's cheeks turned bright red. "I— I— it's just that— you're a pirate, right, Shanks?"

At that Shanks blinked and nodded. "Yeah! It's the best thing in the world! You should be a pirate too—"

"I want to be a marine!" Luffy yelled, and looked up at Shanks, his lips starting to quaver ever so slightly. "And—and if I become a marine and you're a pirate then—when we grow up we'll be enemies and… I don't want to fight you!"

Benn Beckman seemed to catch Luffy's trail of thought and let out a small chuckle as he leaned over to share his theory with Yasopp, who burst into laughter when he heard Luffy's assumption and proceeded to tell the crew about how he had realized this due to his amazing skills with children.

"So I thought that if I was mean to you then you'd start to be mean to me and I wouldn't feel so bad about fighting you but… you're still so nice to me! And I still really, really like you and I don't want to catch you and…"

"Alright, alright, I got it." Shanks cut in, smiling in amusement as he finally realized what Luffy meant. "Luffy, it doesn't matter if you're a pirate, marine, or whatever. We can still be friends, no matter what."

Luffy's eyes widened and turned slightly misty. "R-really?" He whispered and gulped down his sobs now that he had realized that there was no threat to his friendship with Shanks.

"Really." Shanks agreed reassuringly, and then burst into laughter. "Besides, there's no way that you could ever capture me, Anchor!"

At that, Luffy's gratefulness melted back to irritation. "Can too!"

"Hah, right! As if someone like _you_ could catch someone as amazing as _me_!"

Luffy's cheeks turned bright red and Shanks smiled fondly. He was going to miss this kid when he left… ah well, he'd better enjoy it while he still could. Some small, selfish part of him wished that Luffy would be a pirate but he knew that it was impossible.

After all, Luffy was a D, and even if he would challenge the world, he would still become a marine even if it were only on a whim.

Shanks swallowed slightly as he thought of what a marine Luffy could become. If he had chosen to be a pirate he might have become something great… not pirate king, mind you, because… well, actually, maybe.

But he would never know now, would he?

"Oi, Luffy…"Shanks took a gulp of beer as the child turned to him with curious eyes.

"Yeah?" Luffy grumbled, still looking a little miffed at the teasing that Shanks had ensured earlier.

"What are you aiming for? I mean, when you become a marine, what kind of marine do you want to be? Do you want to be a captain? That's a pretty high rank…"

"No way, Shanks!" Luffy declared angrily, crossing his arms into a wide 'X' shape. "I'm going to become the Fleet Admiral and be the boss of everyone in the Navy! Then I can get all the meat!"

Shanks sweat dropped at Luffy's reasoning. "But if you become the Head Admiral you'll have to become a hero of the Navy…" He reminded the boy, who froze at his words.

"I don't want to become a hero…" Luffy muttered, sulking.

Shanks smiled in amusement. "And why don't you want to become a hero?" He asked, encouraging Luffy to continue.

"Heroes—heroes have to share all their meat! And I want the meat to be all mine, mine, mine!"

Shanks laughed. The kid was growing on him. He wished that he could take him with him… if only the brat weren't so stuck on being the Fleet Admiral.


	13. The Meaning of Trust

**A/N:** The story got quoted by sarahgri99. She is awesome. So is mysteryreader6626. I'm sorry that you were the 2nd reviewer... did I warn you? I'm writing this A/N before I finish the chapter, so I don't know. I hope that I warned you. You are all awesome. If you want a mention, tell me. Wait, that sounded weird. Don't flood my Inbox... please...

When Luffy was younger, Makino had told him how to get rid of Night Mare-san. It had worked for a while, but after Sabo's 'death', the strategy stopped working. Every night he and Ace would awake to each other's screams for Sabo to stay, and eventually, sleeping together wasn't uncommon, nor was Dadan silently allowing them to sleep with her.

But then, Sabo had come back, and it had felt like the world, which had turned black and white, suddenly resumed color, and they could once again see the bright blue of the sky and the sea, the color of freedom.

To Luffy, when Sabo had come back, so had his freedom. He had always craved for freedom, to be the King of the Pirates, the strongest and most free of them all. But he had realized after a while that his brothers _were_ his freedom, were his true smile. Being together with them was what sailing the sea must have felt like.

It was amazing.

But there were other times where, even if they were with him, Luffy felt lonely. Because sometimes he was weak, he was a burden, he annoyed them with his constant crying and when he told them about his nightmares, the next morning they'd be weary and exhausted the rest of the day.

And they didn't trust him, either.

They didn't keep secrets from him, sure. But in a way, they did. Ace didn't tell Luffy about not feeling like he was worthy to exist, but he told Sabo. And Sabo didn't talk to Luffy about the world's corruption, but talked with Ace. And while they banded together to comfort Luffy's nightmares, Luffy didn't really comfort theirs.

It was a helpless, pathetic type of feeling that he wanted to shove far, far away, the drop of black on his white.

He didn't even feel like eating.

"Oi, Lu, if you don't eat quickly all your food's going to be gone." Ace warned teasingly as he shoved a piece of Luffy's precious meat into his mouth.

Luffy halfheartedly gulped ten plates down, and then stood up. "I'm not hungry." He mumbled quietly before fleeing the dining room and heading back to their bedroom.

Sabo gulped down his food, gingerly wiped at his mouth, and then allowed his mouth to drop open until his jaw hit the floor. "No way!" He exclaimed in surprise. "Did Luffy eat _only_ 10 plates? That's less than a half of what he usually eats!" He cast a worried glance at Ace. "Do you want me to go check up on him?" Sabo asked curiously.

"I'll go." Thatch stood up, and wiped his mouth with a smirk. "You two finish the food. I made too much because of Luffy's appetite… I figure that you two black holes can deal with it, right?" The two gave him curious looks, before exchanging looks and shrugging, turning back to Thatch with a cautious nod on Sabo's part.

Thatch didn't even bother to try to get a response out of Ace, who had already began to eat Luffy's share of the meal with something far greater than mach speed.

Sighing, he wondered what had possessed him to volunteer for this _willingly_. Who would volunteer to look after a hyper little brat, after all? _Only an idiot would…_ Thatch realized his mental mistake, and groaned. _I guess that makes_ me _an idiot, doesn't it…?_

When he reached the room, he rapped lightly on the door three times, before barging in. Luffy, who had been half standing, about to open the door, frowned slightly at him. "I was going to get that." Luffy informed him.

"Whatever." Thatch replied with a flippant shrug. "Not like it makes a big difference, right, kiddo?"

Luffy just frowned at him even more. "Sabo says that barging into people's rooms before you have permission is rude." He murmured, and then paused and tilted his head to the side, "I think. Maybe it was having permission before you barge into someone's room is rude…?" Luffy gave Thatch a cheery smile. "It's a mystery!"

Thatch gave Luffy an uneasy smile. For some reason, the kid's smile seemed familiar, as though he had seen it before on someone else… no, that was impossible. Who could possibly remind him of someone like _Luffy_ , after all? "I was sent to check up on you, to see if you're okay." He turned towards the door. "I guess that I'll just leave, then if nothing's wrong with you…" Mid step, Thatch paused, and his eyes widened in realization.

 _Ah… so_ that's _where I'd seen that smile before…_

Thatch frowned, turned around, and closed the door behind him as he raised an eyebrow at Luffy. "Now, listen here, kiddo." He started. "There's one rule on this ship that you've just broken. You can't give us fake smiles, but _real_ ones, and if not, you're allowed to tell us why you're upset."

Luffy looked frozen, his eyes as wide as saucers, mouth slightly parted in amazement. "How'd you tell?" He asked in surprise. "I thought that I was pretty good at smiling like that!"

Thatch sighed, and sat down on the bottom half of the bunk bed, gesturing for Luffy to sit next to him as well. The youngest hesitantly sat next to him, but staying uneasily at the other side of the bed. "I used to smile like that." Thatch admitted. "With a fake smile, never really happy, trying to make others feel better because they didn't have to worry about me. But, you know what? It just made them worry even more. Pops taught me that smiling without putting your heart into it is like surviving but not living. It's just wrong."

Luffy kicked off his shoes and lifted his knees up to his chin. "But when Ace and Sabo worry about me, it feels wrong. I want to worry about them, but they won't let me! They always say it's because I'm the youngest but I feel like…" His voice lowered to a hushed whisper, and he stopped talking. Luffy felt like something had stuck itself in his throat, preventing his voice from coming out.

Thatch frowned thoughtfully. "…Like they don't trust you?" He finished curiously.

Luffy said nothing, but shrugged in response, as though agreeing with Thatch but he was unable to voice it in words. Thatch sighed, and inched closer to Luffy until he was sitting beside him.

"I think," Thatch breathed, patting the top of Luffy's head gently. "That you should tell your brothers how you're feeling. You shouldn't keep this all inside. Let it all out and tell them, okay? Or else it's like you're not trusting them."

Luffy twitched. "I do trust them!" He protested in surprise. "I just—" He buried his face in his knees. "I don't want them to hate me or make fun of me because of that… and if they lie again I don't think I can take it…"

"We'd never lie to you, Lu." Thatch raised his head and smiled as Ace and Sabo stood at the now open doorway, looking dejected and shocked. Ace continued, looking horrified, "And of course we trust you! The reason we don't want you to worry about us is because it's makes us worry about you even more! And…"

"…There's no way that we'd make fun of you for something like that, you idiot." Sabo completed Ace's sentence firmly, stomping over to Luffy and hugging him after hitting Luffy on the head. "You're our little brother!"

Luffy hesitantly returned the hug. "Yeah, but… Ace told Sabo about his nightmares, but he didn't tell me. And Sabo doesn't tell me what he's thinking, or when he's scared or worried, but he tells Ace. And even though I tell both of them when I'm worried, Ace and Sabo never tell me, and… wait, since when have you been there?"

"Since you told Thatch that we don't trust you." Ace replied accusingly. "You idiot, that's what you're supposed to confide in _us_ , not Thatch! We're your brothers, remember?"

Thatch shifted uneasily, feeling out of place, as though he didn't belong there. "It's fine, Luffy." He smiled at the boy. "You three are brothers. And no matter the tens of thousands of secrets I'll bet you're hiding from Pops and my family, I'm sure that you know all of each other's secrets."

"But this… this was like Luffy's secret." Sabo muttered dejectedly, hanging his head as he pulled his top hat down over his eyes. "He never told us that he thought that we didn't trust us… and he never asked us why we wouldn't tell him things… he told you, though." Sabo lifted his hat and peeked at Thatch, eyes wide with worry and distrust. " _Why_? Why you? You're practically a stranger! We barely know you! And yet…"

This feeling of failure was unacceptable. It was hot yet cold at the same time, and felt like something was ripping his heart slowly into shreds. Sabo closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "You idiot." He muttered. "Luffy, one day I'm going to find some way to peek into your brain and look at what you're thinking. And if you have any doubts I'll hit you so hard that Ace's attempts to kill you will seem like nothing."

Thatch sighed. "I still don't get it. Ace is such a bro-con, there's no way that he'd—"

"Finish that sentence and I swear that they won't be able to find your bones." Ace growled threateningly.

Thatch just grinned at him and continued chatting animatedly. "—do something like so much as get a scratch on Luffy, because if Luffy gets so much as scratched by a nail he'd destroy all metal objects in the vicinity, because he has such a huge brother complex!"

"…Get ready to die, Thatch."

"Luffy! Save me! Your brother's trying to kill me!"

"Awww, no fair, Ace! I wanna fight too! How come you're just fighting Thatch? Sabooo, make Ace fight me!"

"Uhm, Luffy, I don't think that getting Ace to fight you at the moment is a good idea." Sabo replied awkwardly. "I mean, he's kind of out for blood at the moment and if you fight him you might di—"

"Get ready, Ace! I'm going to defeat you!"

"Like hell you will, idiot! I've defeated you every single time that we've fought!"

"How often do you guys fight!? I thought that you guys were close to each other!"

"We fight each other to get strong, obviously! Are you stupid or something?"

"How dare you call the amazing Thatch-sama stupid!? I'll skin you, brat!"

"Shishishi, this is fun!"

"YOU IDIOT, LUFFY!"

 **A/N:** Sorry that this chapter was so short. Here's an omake as a sorry.

 **OMAKE: The Insult War**

"Thatch, you'd better come out of hiding or else I'll make you regret ever waking up with that stupid idea this morning!"

"Marco-chan, that was a lame insult." Thatch yawned. "I pranked Namur this morning as well, so he'll be teaching you how to insult people, okay? Wait until you hear the _really_ creative ones!"

"THATCH, IF YOU DON'T COME OUT AND DO A DOGEZA FOR THREE HOURS I'LL PERSONALLY SKIN YOU ALIVE, GAUGE OUT OUR EYES, AND USE YOUR ORGANS TO SERVE AS BAIT FOR FISHING!"

Marco blinked in surprise at the bloodlust in the insult. "Uh, so, is that Namur?"

Thatch tilted his head to the side, and then quickly shook it. "Nah, that was Izou. He's still mad over me turning all his kimonos into western style pink ball gowns. Dunno why he's so caught up about it, they'd still look cute on a _real_ woman, not a wannabe. But really, Namur is much more creative than something lame like _that_."

The third contestant marched out of their room, slamming the door behind them as their head whipped around violently. "THATCH, YOU'D BETTER COME OUT AND APOLOGIZE OR ELSE I'LL TEAR OFF YOUR LIMBS, PULL OUT YOUR HAIR ONE BY ONE, STIR YOUR BRAINS AND USE YOUR BLOOD AS PAINT!"

Thatch tilted his head to the side. "Haruta, that wasn't very creative." He scolded. "There are much better death threats out there! You need to be more bloodthirsty, say things that are more out of the box! Tearing off limbs and using my blood as paint is too clichéd! Oh, but stirring my brains is a good one." He gave her a thumbs up.

Haruta's eye twitched dangerously. "I'm going to send parasites into your body, allow them to devour your brain, and before you go unconscious, I'll wipe away the mucus in your stomach so that the acid burns a hole in your body, and then while you're still alive and awake I'll rip your heart to shreds."

"That was too scientific." Thatch replied with a flippant wave of his hand. "Be more scary next time."

"Thatch." The chef turned around when Jozu tapped him on the shoulder.

"Yes?" Thatch asked innocently.

"Here's some money." Jozu shoved some cash at Thatch, who blinked at it and started counting it.

"Uhm, why are you giving this to me?"

"Well, when I send you down the seven hells I figure that looking at the cash will keep you alive after the soul reapers and lake of fire destroy you!" Jozu replied cheerily.

"Boring." Thatch sniffed. "Didn't you use that on me last time?"

"How scary is Namur?" Marco asked in disbelief. "These threats are pretty good, if you ask me!"

It was at that moment that Namur marched on the scene.

Marco blinked curiously at the fishman. "Speak of the devil." He murmured, wondering how terrifying Namur's threats would be.

Namur glared at Thatch. "I'm going to throw your hair gel out." He said.

"NOOOO! NAMUR, PLEASE, NO! I DON'T MIND IF YOU STIR MY BRAINS OR SKIN ME ALIVE, JUST PLEASE DON'T THROW OUT MY HAIR GEL! IT POLLUTES THE OCEAN,TOO! MY BEAUTIFUL HAIR NEEDS GEL… NOOO, NAMUR! EEK! NOO! WAIT, YOU EVEN FOUND MY SECRET STASH? NOOOO!"

Marco sweat dropped. "What a narcissist…" He muttered, shaking his head with a sigh. "And here I was, thinking Namur was someone scary, too…"


	14. Luffy's Birthday

**Disclaimer:** I don't own One Piece or Hamatora's Opening, Flat. I dunno who owns Flat, but it's a nice song!

It was about a week before they landed on an island. It was quite small, but had a quaint feeling to it.

It was a summer island, much to the content of the Whitebeard crew, who had long since stowed away their winter clothing in a dusty storeroom that most were loath to enter, and they landed on a beach with perfectly white sand and colorful little houses that made it seem like something from a child's picture book.

It would have been nice, they all reflected almost mournfully, if it had been inhabited. But there was no sign of life, and the doors were all open as though jarred by an earthquake, and the insides of the houses were black, and, when investigated, empty and filled with cobwebs, though it seemed that not even the spiders had remained.

"It's so quiet." Haruta whispered, shivering slightly as she ran a finger onto a dusty doorknob, shivering slightly when she entered the homes. "It's as though a ghost were waiting for us in here, prepared to kill us or something…"

"That's stupid." Thatch snorted, though he was shaking slightly as well as his eyes darted back and forth, surveying the rooms. "Ghosts don't exist, idiot."

Haruta scowled. "Says the guy who's trembling in fear." She retorted.

There was a loud crashing sound, before a loud, "Luffy, you idiot!" was heard from the general direction of where Sabo had been seen stalking off to, muttering something sourly under his breath about stupid, reckless brothers and how Ace had fallen victim to the brother complex.

There was a pregnant pause, before the members of the family who were on the island exchanged curious looks, and then all nodded in unison, one thought in all of their minds. "We're _definitely_ going after them." Thatch voiced everyone's thought, and they all grinned at each other.

"Ah, but we can't exactly have _everyone_ go." Haruta frowned, and then smirked and tilted her head to the side as she placed a finger over her lips. "How about this? We all go one at a time when all the boring, responsible people like Marco aren't noticing, and eventually we'll all get there!"

"Yes, that would be a great plan, Haruta." The crew members in the house (who, really, were only Haruta, Thatch, Namur, and two 2nd division members named Rin and Emiya) all froze when Marco raised an eyebrow, unimpressed as he stared down the five. "If not for the fact that one of the boring, responsible people like myself overheard that and everyone in just about every house is planning the _exact same thing_."

Haruta gave a sheepish laugh and rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry, Marco!" She replied with a small giggle. "But really, do you know what's going on?"

Marco frowned. "And I should tell you because….?"

"Because we're family!" Haruta declared, faking shock that Marco would even ask such a preposterous question. "And family always tell each other secrets!"

Marco, though clearly unimpressed by Haruta's lack of logic, caved in and informed them, "Luffy ran off, and when Ace and Sabo chased him they discovered that the other side of the island was inhabited with less eye catching houses and people. After some questioning we found that this side was used for festivals, and that tomorrow, on Children's Day, this will be used."

Thatch whistled. "What a waste." He murmured. "They're such beautiful buildings, and the wood could be used for other things… but seriously, to build another village just for festivals? That seems kind of stupid to me."

Marco shrugged. "Well, the brats went to check it out, and anyone else who wants to go can also go." When he finished, he stared at them, expecting a whoop of excitement. It was unfortunate for Marco that he had been speaking to an empty room, since they had long since abandoned the house to explore.

0o0o0o0o0o0

 _A smile._

 _An extended hand._

 _Words that, for the first time, didn't hurt him, but made him feel better. "Throw off your troubles and all your grief, just keep on going and soon you'll be laughing along right here beside me!"_

Ace closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

 _Sabo's bright grin as he swung his legs._

" _Luffy's like your light, right, Ace? So until you feel you're happy, just plug in your light and fill up the dark. Luffy will get rid of all the lies in your head… he's our light."_

 _A nonchalant shrug in response to Ace's anger, Luffy's uncaring shrug._

" _Didn't think you'd care. Nobody else cares… you'd celebrate it anyways, right? So what difference does it make if May 5_ _th_ _is my birthday as well? You'll get yummy food anyways, and I'll get presents anyways. Nobody cares."_

 _A flash of anger._ "I care _." Ace's hissed words…_

And now it was happening all over again. Luffy was casually ignoring the fact that the next day was his birthday, and he and Sabo were left trying to figure out whether or not they should tell the Whitebeard pirates that it would be Luffy's birthday the next day. For one thing, it'd be a bigger celebration and hopefully boost Luffy's sense of self worth. For another thing, what if they didn't care? Then Luffy…

Luffy mattered, much more than Ace would ever believe himself to. Luffy was the one who told him that he wanted Ace to live, and had taught him so many things.

What a family was… what caring was… that there were people who thought that he had mattered, something that, to him, seemed both amazing and impossible.

Luffy had taught Ace how to smile, and had always given his own impossibly wide smile. And then on his own birthday, Luffy had momentarily lost that smile, something that Ace could never forgive the villagers for.

Sabo was fiddling with his top hat, features tight as he concentrated on Luffy's expression of confusion, fists tightening around the hem of his hat as Luffy repeated that he didn't care if they didn't celebrate his birthday that year, that the village was cool and that the Whitebeard Pirates would find it useless anyways.

Ace sucked in a deep breath through his mouth, and slowly let it out as he felt his own fists tightening. "It _matters_." He repeated, furious that he couldn't get it through Luffy's head that his birthday was important to his brothers and should have been celebrated.

Luffy squirmed slightly, and turned his head to look away. "It's not a big deal." He replied with a shrug, scowling slightly. "Why does it matter so much anyways? A birthday's just another day. And it'll be celebrated anyways, so it's pointless, right?"

"That's not the _point_!" Ace replied angrily, gritting his teeth in frustration.

Luffy was scowling even more now, his frown deepening as he sank more into confusion. "Then what _is_ the point!?" He demanded angrily, standing up as his hands fisted as well.

"The point is that your birthday is _important_!" Ace stopped caring that he was yelling, that anybody within a hundred meter radius could hear him, as long as he could get it through his little brother's thick skull that his birthday was important, and that it mattered to Ace and Sabo, if not anyone else. "We care! We care that you're alive, that you're born, that you're getting closer to your dream! Don't you _care_ , Luffy?" His voice faded with the last question as he gave Luffy a long look of desperation to be understood.

Luffy stared at Ace, looking stunned that Ace had said so much, and then he collapsed to the ground, burying his face in his knees, silent as Sabo stared at Ace in the same stunned amazement. "I care." He muttered into his knees, before looking up and giving Ace a look of equal determination. "I care, Ace."

Sabo's face broke into a relieved smile as he nodded at Ace and lifted the brim of his top hat, letting out a small sigh of contentment. "Good." He exclaimed happily, and then crouched down next to Luffy. "As long as you know that. Now we just have to work on our idiot older brother, right, Luffy?" The blond jerked a thumb towards Ace, who let out a small 'Hey!' of discontentment.

For a moment the threesome stared at each other, eyes wide and unblinking, uncharacteristically serious expressions lighting their features, and then simultaneously burst into laughter.

There was a small bit of silence, before Ace squinted past Luffy's shoulder. "Hey, is that Marco?" He asked curiously. Sabo blinked, and also squinted past Luffy, who turned his head around 180 degrees, not bothering to turn his body around, and gave a slight nod.

"Yeah, it's Pineapple head." Luffy agreed.

"What does he want?" Sabo wondered curiously, standing up and brushing himself off a little before jogging over to the commander of the 1st division. For a moment, Luffy and Ace exchanged blank glances, before shrugging and turning to follow Sabo.

When they reached Marco, Luffy paused slightly in anticipation for when Sabo would ask his question and as soon as he realized Sabo wouldn't do it, he turned to Marco and demanded, "What do you want?"

"So blunt." Marco muttered under his breath. Ace blinked and turned to Sabo, asking quietly if there was ever a time to expect Luffy to not be blunt, and Sabo quickly smothered his laugh by spluttering out an incoherent attempt at a reply. "And as for what I want, we're going to check out the village. Do you want to come?"

Sabo and Ace exchanged meaningful looks, once again leaving Luffy in the dark, before turning to Marco and nodding, smiling. Luffy stared at his older brothers, scowling pointedly before they sighed, and whispered, "We just want to make sure you know how important your special day is."

"Oh." Luffy smiled widely. "I got it! Thanks, Ace, Sabo!" The two older brothers didn't reply, merely let out sighs of relief that Luffy understood their intentions, and exchanged bright smiles.

"So, what do you think that village will be like?" Marco asked conversationally as they started down the path, the blond glancing over at the three brothers before awkward silence began to fill the atmosphere.

Sabo's eyes flickered to him curiously, as though the boy were suspicious that Marco had an ulterior motive, and he casually replied, "Strange, I suppose. Different from what we're used to. After all, the Grand Line is supposed to be different from anywhere else, right?"

"New World." Luffy murmured. "Shanks said that there was a place even cooler than the Grand Line—called New World. And he said that after entering it, most learned to call the Grand Line Paradise, but that New World was the real Paradise because it was a challenge." Luffy smiled widely in anticipation. "I wanna go there."

"We'll get there someday." Marco smiled at Luffy, who peered at him and grinned back cheerily. "Don't worry, by then you guys will be so strong that they wouldn't even know what had ever hit them."

Luffy frowned slightly. "I don't want to make myself a big deal." He replied.

Ace tilted his head and blinked at them. "Eh? Why? Aren't you going to be the King of the Pirates, Lu?"

"Yeah, but—When I get my crew, I want to start over at Dawn Island again! And if I already have a bounty, that's like cheating, right?" Marco smothered a laugh at Luffy's innocent question.

"Yes, I suppose it is." He agreed. "But that also means that when we get into fights you have to stay on the sidelines…" He trailed off and smirked at the sudden look of panic on Luffy's expression.

"No, no, no! Wait! I wanna fight!" Luffy whined.

Marco smirked. "Then a bounty might come."

"But I don't want to cheat."

"I don't think it's really considered cheating…"

"But what if it is?"

Ace and Sabo coughed lightly and exchanged looks. Sabo decided to casually insert their desired topic of conversation, "It might make a nice birthday present, don't you think?"

Marco paused, and a look of confusion settled onto his features. "When's Luffy's birthday?"

Luffy turned red. "It may be tomorrow…"

"WHAT!?"


	15. Something Called a Party

**A/N:** This is so so late... I'm sososososo sorry... And I'll be updating even _slower_ because of NaNoWriMo. Are any of you involved? All writers should be involved. It's fun. Anyways, I'm so sorry... accept my pained apologies.

 _It should have been an amazing festival. He should have loved it, smiled at the simplicity of Fuusha Village. But Luffy wasn't there. Ace was beside him, staring in amazement at the careless, happy way that everyone held themselves. But his youngest brother was nowhere to be seen. And when they found him, he was crying._

Sabo shook the memory from his head, his stomach churning uncomfortably as he smiled at a food vendor and scowled at the man when he attempted to rip Sabo off, his eyes flickering towards the brothers beside him. _That's right… it won't happen again._

Because now they knew. And the cake wouldn't be some disgusting rock that Dadan sweetly attempted (the key word being attempt) to call a cake. It'd be Thatch's. And Luffy would enjoy his surprise party… as long as he didn't go into sad Luffy mode again (something very, _very_ rare).

"Want to go gallery shooting?" Izou asked, a dark look in his eyes as his fist tightened around his (very real) gun.

Sabo gulped at the dangerous gleam in Izou's eyes and laughed nervously. "How much times?" He teased, silently hoping that Izou wasn't in such a bad mood that he'd try to attack Sabo, however unlikely.

Izou gave him a glare that could have killed him a thousand times over (if looks could kill—maybe the thick killer intent would destroy Sabo before Izou even twitched) and snarled, "Too many to count."

"If you wanted to avoid it, you could, oh, I don't know, _dress like a normal person_." Haruta pointed out. Haruta was also tightly clenching her sword though, obviously furious that Izou had blackmailed her into wearing a yukata. "And since when did they have a festival for _Children's day_!? This is stupid! Yukatas are for new years!"

"You look very nice, Haruta." Ace replied as cheerfully as he could, though he was also furious because some idiot had bumped into Luffy which had made their youngest lose his stuffy. "I'm sure that to vent some rage, whenever someone hits on you, you've sliced them into so many bits that my eye would seem huge, right?"

Haruta raised an eyebrow. "That's a _brilliant_ idea!" She exclaimed happily as she smirked devilishly at a man passing by. "Oh… but they're _civilians_." Her expression drooped, and she looked so much like a kicked puppy that Sabo couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"What difference does that make?" Izou asked innocently, an 'oops, I may have _accidentally_ shot every single person that hit on me after making them undergo severe torture… but I swear that I didn't know!' expression on his features.

Luffy burst into laughter and cheerfully pointed at a goldfish scoop stand. "Hey, Ace, get me a fish!" He demanded selfishly as he tugged on their sleeves.

"That dump is a waste of not only my money but my time due to the fact that even if I do manage to get a goldfish, we'd only get ripped off by the vendor when he sells us the fish food and if we don't buy it it'll die off, making it even more of a waste of money." Ace said this all in one breath, his expression and tone neutral.

Everybody stared at Ace, wide eyed in surprise. Sabo was the first to pick his jaw up from where it had dug into the earth to the other side of the world and gasped out, "Ace, you just said something _smart_!"

Ace shot him a dirty look. "I'll get you for that tomorrow." He snarled.

"Why tomorrow?" Luffy asked, a disappointed expression settling on his features as he lowered his fist. "I want to fight!"

Haruta giggled, while Izou looked sour. "Sorry, Luffy, but no fighting until…" Haruta paused, and started to laugh awkwardly when three glares turned into her direction. "Until tomorrow… why are you guys looking at me like that? I know you want to fight, but today's a festival! Ha. Ha. Ha…" She trailed off, and they all sighed in relief at her close save.

Luffy scowled, and crossed his arms over his chest. "No fair." He muttered, and pointed at the goldfish stand. "If I don't get to fight I want a goldfish."

Ace scowled. "No." He replied, narrowing his eyes. "No goldfish."

"I want a goldfish."

"Too bad, because you're not going to get one."

Cue puppy dog eyes.

"ALRIGHT PEOPLE, WE'RE GOING TO CATCH A GOLDFISH!"

"Too easy. Ace is such a wimp."

"Shishishi, I get a goldfish?"

Sabo sighed as he followed Ace over to the stand, and nodded. "…Yes, Lu, you get a goldfish."

"What a sudden change of heart…" Izou shivered slightly as he glanced at the fired up older brother.

"Ace is a sucker for things like this." Sabo explained as they made their way to the stand. "It's because he's a bro-con."

"I HEARD THAT, SABO. AND I AM NOT A BRO-CON!"

"Yes, yes, as you see he's in the stage of denial, though we're currently working on that."

"I'm not in denial." Ace replied shortly, glaring at Sabo.

The blond raised an eyebrow, and snickered slightly. "You want to bet?" He asked in amusement, while Ace just let out a frustrated sigh, and turned to the goldfish stand's owner.

"I want to get a fish." Ace informed the man.

"Don't they all?" The man asked in reply, sounding slightly amused. "After all, that seems to be the reason why someone would approach a goldfish fishing stand, doesn't it? That'll be 50 beri per try, please."

"…what a rip off…" Haruta murmured under her breath, frowning slightly. "I mean, I expected it to be expensive, but seriously, can't you buy a goldfish at a pet store for only 20 beri?"

"That's more than double the price you 'd get a goldfish for at a pet store." Ace told the man conversationally, digging dirt out of his nails. "I'd suggest you lower it to 10 beri, as you cheat by using easily broken fishing nets… unless, of course, you _want_ us to report you to the authorities…?" He trailed off meaningfully, and turned to the others, shrugging slightly. "Well, you heard him. He wants to cheat innocent people out of their money…" He hung his head, taking in a deep gulp of air. "And we're running low on money as it is, too… I just wanted to get a nice present for my brother but I guess that our budget's too low…"

This, of course, was a total lie, and they all knew it, but Izou and Haruta were too impressed by Ace's acting to say anything while Luffy and Sabo were snickering over how they knew the stall's owner would give in to the dejected look in Ace's eyes (because dejected was the least word they'd use to describe Ace).

The stall owner's eyes widened and he instantly started fretting. "I'm sorry!" He exclaimed quickly. "I… I'll give you a discount, okay? As friends…" He wiped nervously at his brow, suddenly turning from a conman to an anxious dealer.

Ace gave the man a cocky smirk, and waved flippantly. "But you see, I've already paid for five scoops, so in that case, I need four more scoops."

"N..no need to worry." The man chuckled nervously, wringing his hands together. "Y-you'll catch it in one scoop, I'm sure!"

"In that case, I'd demand a refund." Ace replied, an icy smile on his lips. "I'm in a bad mood at the moment. Care to ask why?"

"I'm not sure…" The stall owner murmured, seeming to have finally collected his wits, no longer as scared of the 11 year old before him (a big mistake). "I'm a little scared to know…"

"Wise choice." Izou muttered under his breath, exchanging glances with Haruta. "They should be finished by now, right?"

Haruta nodded. "Yeah. Sabo, get your brother, we're heading to the ship."

Sabo's eyes flickered up to her in surprise. "Already?" He asked. "We're done here? No more stalling?" A wide smile, filled with relief that his yearning would be fulfilled, spread across his lips, and he looked so blissful that Haruta almost felt envious for a moment, before remembering that with Pops, she always felt that way.

"Yeah." Izou nodded, smiling slightly at the backs of Ace and Luffy, as Luffy watched, amused as Ace threatened the—er—bargained with the stall owner of a takoyaki stand to lower the prices of the food. "He's such a sweet kid. It's funny how he was born on children's day. Almost like a sign of some sort."

Sabo started. "A sign of what?" He asked, flinching slightly at the cold anger in his tone. _I didn't mean to talk to him like that…_ But something inside of him felt like it was snapping. "A sign that he's common? That he's just a child, that his birthday was just a reminder that he was still a child? That he'd never truly grow up? What?"

Izou looked startled at Sabo's words, and the blond instantly mumbled a chagrined, "Sorry, Izou-san…" while Izou shook his head wildly and smiled again, amused at Sabo's tantrum. "Don't worry about it. You're still a kid. I expected that."

"Iz _ou_." Haruta groaned. "You're only 19."

"Hush, child." Izou replied, looking slightly sour at being reminded of how old he was, placing a finger on Haruta's lips. Haruta looked equally unamused, possibly by being called a child by one only two years older than her. "I meant that it's showing that Luffy stands out among the children. While they celebrate one thing, he celebrates another. He's bold, as though it's saying, the rest of you kids are common udon. I'm the ramen."

Haruta giggled slightly at Izou's metaphor, smoothing it down when Izou shout her an unamused look, but was unable to contain her laughter when Sabo muttered, looking slightly green, "I'll never eat udon again…".

"Hey, what's going on?" Slightly breathless, Ace smiled brightly at them as he handed Sabo a box of takoyaki. "Got it for 20 beris." He explained.

"Nice." Sabo snickered, popping a piece into his mouth, fanning it when he bit into it. "You ripped him off so badly that he'd have to sell it all even more overpriced to make a good profit. We're going back now, though."

"Wait, there's no takoyaki for us?" Haruta asked, pretending to be wounded. "Oh, Ace, you look adorable when you're smiling!"

Ace instantly wiped the bright smile off his face and replaced it with an expression of neutrality. "Already?" He asked, unable to contain his surprise even as he shot Haruta a dirty look.

"Yeah." Izou smiled. "They just sent the signal that they're ready."

"Uhm…" Luffy tilted his head to the side, his features filled with confusion. "What do you mean, 'they're ready'? What are they ready for? Are we leaving before the festival's over?"

Izou stared at Luffy, his mouth slowly forming an 'o' and he silently shook his head, looking too stunned to say anything. "N…o…" He muttered, his tongue suddenly feeling heavy, guilt ascending him for deceiving the boy with the innocent eyes despite knowing that he didn't have any reason to feel guilty. "We're just… having something… special right now on the ship…"

Luffy looked uncertain for a second, but his mouth widened into a bright smile of relief and comprehension as he nodded. "Oh, I see!" He laughed, before bounding off in the direction of the harbor.

"W-wait up Lu!" Ace yelled before dashing off after Luffy, but when he caught up to Luffy, Ace stopped and followed a little behind his brother, his head ducked down as his feet dragged slightly along the ground.

"Does he have no idea that we're having a party for his birthday!?" Izou demanded as he turned to Sabo, anger beginning to cloud his judgement, the knowledge that Sabo was the one who made them have this party forced to the back of his mind in light of the knowledge that Luffy didn't seem to care about his birthday.

Sabo stared blankly at the sight of his two brothers in front of him, before shaking his head sadly. "No." He replied softly. "He doesn't."

As they walked towards the ship, they all were silent.

0o0o0o0o0

It was hard not to cry. The last time that he had a party this big was with Shanks. His celebrations with Ace and Sabo were usually small, just that they treated him nicely that day but continued on like usual, unable to have a real party. And whenever Gramps had a party it was lonely, and the only children there were bribed and hated him in real life, their smiles uncaring and angry.

"Surprised?" Marco asked, tilting his head to the side as he grinned at Luffy, who was still covered in streamers, staring in stunned amazement at the amount of lights and balloons tied to the ship.

"Y-yeah…" Luffy stared in amazement. "This is really… for me…? Not for something else….?"

"Of course!" Luffy jerked slightly as Thatch bounded down over to him and slung an arm over his shoulder. "Who else's birthday would it be, our little idiot?"

Luffy blinked. "Um... someone else?" He asked sheepishly.

The rest of the crew burst into laughter. "Here, open my present first." Aria, the head nurse, shoved a red parcel into Luffy's hands, her eyes gleaming in excitement.

Luffy cautiously accepted the present, staring at it blankly and holding it as gingerly as one would a bomb just waiting to explode. For a long time he stared at it, and he turned a little red. "Thanks." He mumbled, ducking his head down in a futile attempt to hide the mad blush crawling up his cheeks. Carefully he opened the paper, and stared at the thing inside of it in amazement, turning it around in his hand in shock.

A small book peered up at him, a picture of Pops and some of the crew (because everyone knew that getting a picture of even a 1/3 of the crew together was a near impossible feat) on the cover. When he opened it, the small laminated plastic slots from a photo album blinked at him, and he frowned slightly when he saw how empty it was.

He rose his head to look at Aria, his expression on of great puzzlement, but when he opened his mouth to ask, the _click!_ of a camera had already passed. "Your first photo for the album." Aria said triumphantly, handing him a picture of him gaping, Thatch and Marco grinning at his shoulders, though Thatch seemed to be attempting to force a grouchy Marco to give Luffy moose ears, judging from Marco's scowl and Thatch's hands around his brother's wrists. Yet all the same, they seemed happy.

Luffy liked seeing his brothers happy.

"That's right!" Thatch exclaimed, wriggling out of the choke hold that Marco had caught him in. "We made a huge birthday cake for you!" As the fourth division pulled out a Moby Dick made out of cake with a towering Pops waving on it next to Luffy, Ace, Sabo and the division commanders, Luffy didn't think that his grin could go any further, or else his face might've broken from joy.

As they clapped, and sang, sometime Ace, Izou, Sabo and Haruta had joined in, and as they partied, Luffy couldn't help smiling even wider, the biggest smile he had even given.

 _I like it here_. He thought. _When I have my crew, I want to do this with them_.

He'd always thought of that as 'when he was free'. But maybe he was already free.

 **A/N:** Anyone notice that Luffy referred to Thatch and Marco as his brothers? I wrote that on purpose! Oh, you don't care? (sulks in the corner)


	16. A Night of Dreams

**A/N:** I know what you're thinking. 'Ugh, another nightmare chapter?' Sorry. But it relates to the lack of plot? And yes... my stuff has been super late so I'll try to update the next one faster. BUT... here's the beginning of the Thatch/Teach arc! Yay! No? Okay... (sulks)

 _His chest burned. His eyes no longer watered, because he was used to it. Anger flared up inside of him, even though he knew that it was irrational. He leaped up and fought them, fury burning in his heart._

 _There was a flash of blond. Mouth opened in shock._

 _"What are you looking at?" He demanded._

 _A whisper, filled with honesty._ "You _. You..."_

 _"What?"_

 _Eyes filled with admiration, however misplaced. A bright smile, and though confused, the eyes were pure. And for once they didn't judge. Now he saw them again. Honesty... but at the same time deception. How could someone tell the truth and lie at the same time? He couldn't trust anyone. Nobody... except his brothers._

"Ace?"

His eyes snapped open to Luffy's worried eyes, and he smiled quickly to reassure his little brother that he was fine. "What is it, Luffy?" He asked, frowning slightly as he realized how rare it was for Luffy to wake him up, instead usually settling for doodling on his face. Ace peered around the room, eyes widening when he realized that it was still dark. Something gnawed uneasily at his stomach. "Did you have a nightmare again?" He asked in horrified realization.

 _Why? He hasn't had them in such a long time…_

Luffy gave a small nod. "Sorry." He mumbled quietly. "But I was scared and…" He shivered, looking smaller than ever as he stood on the ground in a too-large shirt acting as his pajamas, looking as forlorn as an abandoned puppy.

"Why are you apologizing, you idiot!?" Ace demanded angrily, inwardly kicking himself for making his little brother apologize for something he couldn't control.

"I… I woke up Ace when Ace was still sleeping…" Luffy replied guiltily, hanging his head in shame, his hands tightly clenching his shirt and his eyes squeezed slightly shut.

"That's not something that you have to feel guilty for!" Ace replied, and quickly recoiled when Luffy flinched slightly.

"I'm sorry…" Luffy whispered again, seeming to fold in on himself, biting his lip tightly.

"I… Lu, I wasn't mad at you, you little idiot." Ace sighed, and picked Luffy up before allowing him to sit on his lap, cocooning the two in his blanket. "Come on, why don't you tell me what Night Mare-san did to you, and we'll sort it out?"

Luffy shivered. "I don't really remember that much of it…" He confessed, pressing his cheek against Ace's chest. "I want Sabo too…" Luffy muttered. "I dreamed a little bit about when Sabo was gone too… Sabo's still here, right?"

"Of course he is." Ace agreed, shivering at the thought of when Sabo had been gone. Sabo had been the first one to accept him… to allow him to live… when he was gone… the idea still scared him. If any of his brothers got hurt he'd never forgive himself. _Stop…._ He had to stop thinking like this.

Ace climbed up to the top bunk and gently poked Sabo's cheek. Luffy watched, giggling slightly as he lay in the part where he had been lying besides Sabo before, smiling as he also poked their brother's cheeks.

"Wha…?" The blond sleepily rubbed his eyes, peering around curiously before sighing as he turned to Luffy and Ace, lower lip stuck out firmly in a pout, eyes dark in annoyance. "Why is it that _I'm_ always the last one woken up?" He demanded instantly.

Ace smirked. "Because you were sleeping so peacefully, with that dopey look on your face."

Sabo flushed. "What dopey look!?" He demanded.

"Like this." Ace demonstrated.

"I'll show you dopey." Sabo's voice darkened threateningly.

"Please don't." Ace muttered, looking slightly scared despite the brave front that he attempted to put on.

Sabo groaned. "I don't have time for this." He muttered as he pulled Luffy onto his lap. "So, nightmare. Who, what, when, where, why?"

Luffy raised a hand. "I had it." He mumbled. "There was this big black monster chasing me…"

"And?" Ace asked curiously.

Luffy shrugged, turning slightly red. "That's it." He mumbled. "But it was scary… it wasn't just black. It was like it was made out of darkness! And it didn't have a mouth, but it ate everything, and when he passed something, when he was past it… the thing would die… and it kept following me and…" He shivered. "It's not real, right?" He asked in a small voice.

"Of course it's not real!" Sabo exclaimed quickly, eager to reassure his little brother. "Why would something as scary as that be real?" He laughed nervously.

Luffy's features quickly lit up. "Yeah, that's right!" He agreed eagerly. "And even if we did, Banana Mustache guy—" He paused, and quickly shook his head, "I mean _Pops_ ," –Ace and Sabo shared a look, both frowning slightly—"Would beat them all up!"

Ace pouted. "Aren't Sabo and I strong?" He asked, frowning slightly.

Luffy nodded quickly. "Yeah, but if they're _super strong_!" He exclaimed, waving his arms in emphasis.

"Ooh." Ace and Sabo nodded wisely. "You mean like... like…" They frowned at each other, both thinking hard about who was enough of a bad guy. "Like… like as strong as the old geezer?"

The three all shivered. "W-well, it doesn't have to be _that_ strong…" Sabo replied hastily. "Let's not jump to conclusions, right?" But all the same he started cowering.

They all laughed nervously together, but it grew until it became uncontrollable, and eventually they snickered together, smoothing out their slowly dying laughter.

Luffy wrapped his hand around Ace's, then wrapped his other around Sabo's. "I'm glad we're together." He whispered, softly but his voice still firm.

Sabo smiled in response, and asked teasingly, "Why wouldn't we be, you little idiot?"

Luffy shrugged, and giggled a little before pressing his head into Sabo's chest. "Can I sleep up here tonight?" He asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Of course."

Luffy snuggled down between the two, but as he closed his eyes the image of the black monster flashed before him again, and he instantly opened them, shivering.

Ace and Sabo's arms tightened around him, and the blue and black eyes opened. "What's wrong, Lu?" Ace asked, confused.

"No monsters, right?" Luffy asked shakily.

"Of course not." Sabo replied firmly. "We're stronger than the monster."

"Right." Luffy agreed in a small voice. But that night he didn't close his eyes, instead deciding to stare sleepily at the ceiling, the image of a formless beast rushing towards him present in his mind.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

As Thatch lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, he wondered who else would be doing the same. Certainly not Marco, who would work if awake, nor Namur, who was too restless to lay down, even if weary from a long day or worry.

Perhaps Izou, who was gently and often thought for the sake of thinking, or Jozu, who thought of nothing but occasionally counted his blessings and would vow to create more. Thatch didn't do either of those things. Instead, he thought of how he could live.

 _Travel the world with my family_. The word family, once foreign, now settled comfortably on his tongue. He loved saying it, and knowing what it meant.

 _Completing that big feast that will make even Pops gape._ Because Pops was huge, and he never gaped, no matter how much food there was. Sometimes Thatch thought that even if they found an island where everything was made of food, even then Pops would remain impassive, and simply laugh at the absurdity.

 _Prank someone once a day_. He snickered at that. He had never thought pranks to be so pleasing, but once Haruta had gotten him roped in it was practically an addiction.

Tonight, though, he had been awoken by a dream, so instead he focused on not those things, but of remembering it, and pondering what it had meant.

He had dreamed of finding a small, sweet black creature. It had been adorable, with wide, soft eyes and a sweet, melodious voice. He had picked it up, and his family had smiled, telling Thatch he could keep it.

But then something had happened. Something bizarre, even. He had just been feeding it and washing it, when suddenly instead of it's soft, quiet noises of pleasure, it growled loudly, fury ripping through the air.

It's dark skin bulged, spreading outwards and growing larger and larger until it's skin ripped apart and instead of blood and guts, darkness flowed out of it, laughing maniacally though it had no lips. It grew and grew, and though Thatch tried desperately to contain the beast, it raced about this ship and swallowed it.

Screams rang out, before being eerily stifled, and then it had turned to Thatch, and he, too, was swallowed, and all alone in the darkness of the beast's belly.

He hadn't been dead.

But he hadn't been alive either.

And then he had awoke.

Perhaps it was just a common old nightmare, nothing to worry about. But for some reason, there was something gnawing at Thatch's insides, whispering to him, _No… this isn't right. Don't brush it off. It's coming…_

The words were soft, and he could practically hear a mouth brushing against his ear, the fearful voice whispering, _It's coming… be alert and wary…_

But what had he to fear? On the _Moby Dick_ , with his family, what had he to be afraid of? _Nothing_. He tried to tell himself, quickly shaking off the uneasy feeling. But it still sent chills up his spine. _Don't forget me._ The feeling reminded him. _Danger will come… and you'll regret forgetting this._

It probably would have cackled if it were real, and Thatch resigned himself to a sleepless night.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Perched on the Crow's Nest, Haruta sighed as she waved her sword half heartedly at the air, swiping it slightly before tucking the miserable thing back into it's proper place.

She was bored. Annoyed. Definitely not lonely, because that was stupid, because she was with her family, on the ship… even if she was all alone, on the Crow's Nest, the only one on watch.

Haruta kicked the mast, scowling.

"Geez, what did the poor thing ever do to you?"

Whipping around so fast that her hair flew with her head, she turned to blink in surprise at the newcomer. "Thatch?" She asked in disbelief. "Shouldn't you be asleep?"

Thatch stuck out a tongue. "Asleep meshleep, whatever. Didn't wanna. And I figured you'd want some hot chocolate…" He frowned at the two cups in his hands. "If I gets wrong, I'm willing to take yours, though."

Haruta shook her head with a sigh and gave a small, breathy laugh of disbelief. "How did you even climb up here without using your hands?" She asked in amazement.

"I flew." Thatch joked with a wink.

"Oh, really?" Haruta played along in amusement, ignoring the small voice in her head pointing out that she was too happy that she wasn't alone and that was the only reason why she was tolerating him. _Shut up_ , she told it and promptly set to ignoring the voice. "I suppose you have a devil fruit power, then?"

"Of course not." Thatch wrinkled his nose, and smirked. "The awesome Thatch-sama can fly without a devil fruit!"

"Of course you can." Haruta replied with a sarcastic smirk of her own, before taking in a sip of the hot chocolate and letting out a breath of satisfied joy as warmth rushed through her body. "I'm alive again." She melted under the sweet taste of the warm drink.

Thatch smiled, looking pleased. "Glad to hear it." He took a sip of his own, a relaxed expression crossing his features. "So, why are you up at this cold, lonely and horrid hour?" He asked.

"My turn to be on watch." Haruta sighed and blew a strand of her hair from her forehead in frustration. _I should really cut it sometime._ She thought absentmindedly. _Maybe just below my ears…_ "And you?"

Thatch shrugged. "No real reason." He replied quietly, his voice as steady as Marco's in a rare moment of seriousness.

What a liar.

"If you don't want to tell me because you don't trust me, then fine." Haruta muttered, sulking.

"I don't—!" Thatch sighed, and blew slightly on the steam rising from his drink before taking another gulp. "I just had a bad dream, that's all."

"Oh." The two fell into an awkward, yet still comfortable silence. "Everyone gets them." Haruta offered up lamely, shivering when she thought of the nightmares that plagued her when she was younger and had a broader imagination.

"Yeah." Thatch agreed, gripping his glass so tightly that his knuckles began to turn white. "I know."

Haruta smiled. "Why don't you tell me about it?" She asked teasingly.

Thatch's eyes widened. "I—I don't—" He spluttered, then seemed to fold in on himself slightly. "I don't want to worry you."

Haruta sighed and gave a small shake of her head as she rose her eyes to look at the stars, smiling in a sheepish, fond way, as she absentmindedly began to wonder to herself, _What on earth am I going to do with this guy?_

"We're family." She reminded him. "That's what we're here for."

The look on Thatch's face was priceless. And then, slowly, he smiled. "Yeah." He agreed softly. "Thanks."


	17. I Smell Adventure!

**A/N:** Sorry for the late update last time. SOOO... as an apology, you got this! Yay! By the way, the only reason you're getting this is because of my good friend iloveonepiece so go and follow her. Even if she's an annoying idiot.

Smiling with pleasure that should have long escaped him as the familiar warmth of a summer island traveled across his skin, Vista turned to Kingdew, unable to contain the grin that was stretching across his lips. "I smell—"

"Adventure, right?" Kingdew chuckled. "You're easily pleased and excited. It's funny, like you're a little kid."

If Vista was Thatch, he would have stuck out his tongue and made a face, but since he _wasn't_ the hyperactive chef (thankfully, since he wouldn't know what to do if he had been born as such an idiot), he merely smirked. "Look at the pot calling the kettle black."

Kingdew turned beet red as Vista laughed, having noticed Kingdew's equally wide (if not wider) grin and impatient foot tapping. "The only real children here are those three, anyways." Kingdew muttered in a futile attempt to change the subject as he coughed slightly.

Vista turned to look at the three and gave a nod, smiling slightly fondly. "Yes, I suppose they are." He agreed with a thoughtful bark of laughter. "Are we getting off the ship now?"

"I imagine that if we're not getting off the ship we'd have to deal with some very unruly brothers and sisters." Marco stepped up beside them and flashed them a quick, bright smile. "Go ahead and do whatever you'd like. Pops gives us full permission."

With a loud whoop of joy, Vista hurtled himself off the ship, grinning as Thatch leaped from the crow's nest with a loud scream of, "FREEDOM!" as he splashed into the water.

"You okay?" He snickered when the drenched redhead swam to shore, shaking of drops of water clinging to his skin and twisting his shirt, sighing when he realized it wasn't about to dry anytime soon.

Thatch scowled at his shirt and mumbled, "Maybe the sun will dry it out…" Before looking up at Vista and grinning cockily. "Of course I am! After all, you're talking to the Amazing Thatch-sama, the bravest and—"

"Stupidest of them all!" Haruta cut him off, finishing his sentence with a laugh of mischievous joy before darting off, a merry grin lighting her practically glowing features as she skipped off into town as she dodged Thatch's irritated swipe.

"I'll get you back!" Thatch called to her retreating form before giving as sigh of resignation as he turned to Vista and Kingdew. "I won't be able to get her back, will I?"

They both gave him a _Do you_ seriously _still need to ask?_ look, and he sighed once more before conceding defeat.

"Well, then." He struck a dramatic pose. "Let's go on a grand adventure!"

…

"Okay, seriously, _what_?"

The corners of Kingdew's lips twitched upwards slightly, but the slight motion was enough for him and his traitorous lips gave into a full blown smile. "What did you think that we were about to do, idiot?" He asked teasingly.

"I don't know." Thatch replied with a deceptively straight face. "Whatever boring old guys do, I guess."

They both glared at him before Vista pulled out his sword and started swinging it maniacally, screaming in a teasingly murderous fashion, " _Die_ , Thatch! I'll have you know I'm only 19!"

Thatch gave a small cry of false shock. "You're that young!?" He exclaimed in surprise. "I thought you were, like, 50! So then what gives with all those wrinkles?"

Vista started chasing him again. "You'll regret ever having had a mouth when I'm done with you!" He cried furiously, but after a while he began laughing almost hysterically at the preposterousness of the situation.

Kingdew simply watched in confused amazement. _Seriously, something is wrong with their heads. And I mean that in the politest way possible._ But then again, he was probably considered crazy too. With a sigh, he barreled towards them and started to yell as well, the three laughing as they circled each other, no longer knowing who was chasing who or even their purpose in their exhausting game of tag.

It was a shame that this light hearted feeling wouldn't last.

0o0o0o0o0o0

" _Whitebeard's crew…"_

"… _strongest in the world…"_

"… _at our island…"_

"… _Why?"_

As he sauntered into the bar, Takashi perked up when the words reached his ears. He approached the bartender with the lazy arrogance of an all too cocky outlaw, and smiled sweetly. "A Bloody Mary to go, please." He requested pleasantly.

The bartender said nothing for a few seconds, but merely gave his outfit a suspicious look, before requesting, "May I have the pleasure of knowing your face before you leave, sir?"

Takashi tilted his head to the side, as though confused, before a wide smile crawled up his lips. "I'd show you, but then you'd have to die, mister. And I like you so far."

The bartender chuckled merrily, as though he had just told him a funny joke. "I'll take my chances." He chortled in amusement.

Takashi removed his hood, and all the color drained from the bartender's face.

" _You_." The man hissed, backing up before slamming violently into his shelf. "What's a dirty marine like you doing here? Will you burn down our home again merely for existing to those who can't afford your taxes? Are you here to destroy our livelihood again? Kill innocent children? What would a monster like you be doing here?"

Takashi frowned, and wagged a finger at the bartender. "Now, now, no need to be so aggressive." He sing songed sweetly. "If you'll give me my drink on the house, I'll consider it payment for your life."

With a cold glare that may have chilled lesser men to the bone, the bartender handed him a glass. "Take it." The old man spat, fury lining the edge of his words. "And get out. Do not return here again… I don't need something that brings nothing but bad luck staining our home."

"Oh my, such harsh words." Takashi murmured softly, not even bothering to pretend to be wounded. He gave the man a last, chillingly sweet smile, before reminding him with a false, icy voice full of sugar, "The marines are only here to help."

As the man fell to the ground in fear, his legs finally giving out beneath him, Takashi took a sip of his drink and pushed the hood back onto his head.

A predator's smile lit his lips. "So, the Whitebeard pirates… hmm. Sounds fun."

0o0o0o0o0o0

"I'm booooored." Thatch whined to Kingdew as they sat down in a bar, sticking his tongue out childishly at the waitress when she asked for his ID. "I'm a pirate, I don't have an ID!" Thatch exclaimed to the woman, insulted at her query.

The waitress stiffened ever so slightly, before bowing her head and whispering, "Please, get out of this town. We don't want any trouble, sire… the marines have us under their protection. G-7's base is located here… and Vice Admiral Takashi himself leads them."

"Concerned for us?" Vista asked with an ironic smile. "How sweet of you."

The waitress looked both equally terrified and revolted at the thought of being concerned for strangers. "Concerned for you?" She asked, giving a slight laugh filled with sorrow. "I'm concerned for myself. If I'm suspected of dealing with outlaws…" She gave a little shake of her head, before drawing a finger across her neck.

"Oh." Kingdew said softly in a voice of understanding. "I see. I'm sorry we're intruding…"

The waitress said nothing, but gave them a nervous smile and nodded, before scurrying off from sight.

Thatch frowned. "I guess we'll just stock up and leave, then." He sighed. "Wanna see what the brats are up to?"

The other two smiled and stood up. "Sure." Vista agreed, his voice firm. "Let's go."

As they walked (well, Thatch skipped, but he was _Thatch_ for goodness sake, you couldn't exactly expect him to do anything different) out of the bar, Kingdew began to stiffen.

Noticing, Vista's eyes narrowed, and his fingers clamped tightly around Thatch's arms before yanking him into a nearby alley, Kingdew swift to follow.

"What's going o—"

"Kingdew has the best Observation Haki out of all of us." Vista explained in short, rapid bursts of breath. "And if he even twitches slightly, you've got to be on guard."

Thatch's eyes widened in understanding, before he gave a firm nod and turned to Kingdew. "What do you feel?" He whispered, immediately feeling a little foolish for whispering.

"I don't know, if I'm going to be honest…" Kingdew admitted, his voice but a low murmur. "But I don't like it. I know that for sure. It's a cold, icy feeling like somebody's about to be murdered for the owner of that haki's amusement…" He shivered slightly. "We need to get out of here."

Vista nodded. "I'll alert Pops and we'll dash." He agreed.

"…I don't like this." Thatch scowled, crossing his arms. "This isn't right… I want ta stay and fight. What's wrong with fighting? We're strong. If it's only one guy we'll be fine. There's nothing to worry about…"

"We _can't_." Vista replied empathetically, his voice tight. "What about the safety of the town? What if by some ridiculous notion, the marines here think that the town was supporting us or something? How much trouble do you think that _everyone_ would be in, then?"

Thatch fell silent, before repeating in a soft, regretful tone. "I just don't like it. I feel like a coward."

"This isn't what a coward does." Kingdew reassured him. "A coward would fight, perhaps, uncaring of anyone but himself. A coward would run away from the constant nagging of _what if_ 's. It's bravery to protect. It's cowardly to fight for the sake of fighting."

Thatch's body tensed, then sagged, and he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "…Fine." He agreed regretfully. "But… can we go quick? I don't want to have to think about this any more than I already have."

Vista smiled and gave Thatch an encouraging squeeze on the shoulder, before waving a hand as he stepped from the alley, eyes darkening as he slipped into the crowd. "We don't have much time to waste." The man whispered in the short, quick bursts of sound used by someone with experience in stealth. "Just one force can't do much against us, but at the same time it's _one whole force_. And from what the waitress in the bar said, we can't afford to make too many mistakes if we decide to deal with them."

Thatch's lips thinned out even more, but he merely nodded, eyes drooping in surrender as he wove his way towards Vista's retreating form. _Oh, wait, he can't see me_. Thatch remembered, before muttering a soft, "Alright." Of reply.

Behind him, he could barely hear Kingdew's steps, but his breath, however light, shoved it's way down his back, a strange yet comfortable reminder that his family was here.

 _That's right_. Thatch thought, swallowing slightly as his hands fisted. _I have my family. I'm not alone anymore._

 _I'll never be alone again._

0o0o0o0o0o0

For a moment, after the pause, Whitebeard waited, before murmuring, "You made a wise decision. We'll leave as soon as possible, using an eternal pose if it's absolutely necessary."

Hands fisted, mouth set in a determined frown, Sabo murmured. "I don't like this. Not one bit. It feel so… so cowardly. It's like we're running away."

From where he was sitting on the stairs, his back against the railing, it was hard to see Ace's features, but it was easy to tell that he, too, was frowning. "I get that we need to be careful." He told them, his fingers sliding nervously around the brim of his hat. "But I don't like this either. Like Sabo said, I feel like we're running away."

Luffy's ever wide smile was wavering slightly at the topic of conversation. For once, he was silent as he stared at Thatch with unreadable eyes, before he bounded over to Kingdew, and asked brightly, "Wow, you're super cool, eh?", his smile finally managing to finalize it's grip on his features.

Kingdew, who had been tense ever since he had felt the cold presence, finally relaxed and laughed slightly as he ruffled Luffy's hair. "And why would you say that, little man?" He asked in amusement.

"Be _caaaause_!" Luffy explained, throwing his arms up in exasperation with a small _whoosh_ ing sound. "You could tell when the bad guy was here and you knew when to make a stratamago—stratfordafol—sturgeretica—" In the end Luffy gave up on the word and scowled, "Smart person thinking run away! Except not running away, because a real man knows when a fight's not worth it!"

For a brief moment, the dark haired boy's features were replaced with an older dark haired man's features, still wide and grinning as he spoke almost the exact same words. The color drained from Kingdew's face. _Roger…_ No. He quickly shook his head. _Luffy isn't Roger. Luffy's Luffy.. but he…_ It wasn't as though he was Roger's son, though. They were all too young… much too young to be Roger's children, and certainly not Luffy, who was more than three years after Roger's death.

Then when his eyes rested on the straw hat laying atop the child's head, he remembered, _Ah, yes, Shanks._ A smile of relief crossed his lips. _That's right. Shanks. Not Roger_. He sucked in a deep breath. _I'm such an idiot_.

"Oh, yes?" Pops had an amused twinkle in his eyes as his booming laughter spread across the ship. "And where'd you learn that, brat?"

"I'm not a brat!" Luffy pouted, before stars twinkled in his eyes and he answered excitedly, "Shanks told me!"

Pops smiled. "Alright, then." He agreed. "Let's set sail."

As he spoke, though, the ground beneath them seemed to darken, and Luffy let out a loud yell of fear as the darkness began to travel up his body, seeming to almost swallow his small frame. A small, gasping sound escaped his lips before the darkness seemed to gulp him down, and it receded.

For a moment, they all said nothing, but merely gaped at the spot where the child had once been.

And then, Pops' hands fisted, and when he looked up his eyes were filled with a cold intensity of fury. "What have you done?" He hissed as he glared down at the cocky marine smirking up at him.

"It's nice to meet you." The marine purred sweetly, holding up a finger as darkness swirled around it. "I hope that you'll be a good match. I've eaten the Yami Yami no Mi and my name is Vice Admiral Takashi…" His grin turned feral. "But I do hope that I'll get promoted once I bring in your head."

"Begone!" Whitebeard roared, fury rolling off him in waves.

Takashi pouted for a moment, before his smile widened. "I know." He murmured, and the darkness returned, and formed a large oval. Inside, barely seeable, was Luffy, pale and as cold as death.

"You fiend…" Thatch growled angrily, stopped only when the darkness curled around Luffy's neck threateningly.

"Let's have a match, Whitebeard." Takashi commanded. "And the winner will be able to control this boy's fate."


	18. The End of Absolutely Nothing

**A/N:** Lack of plot, even though this is an arc? Lack of motion? A useless chapter? (sigh) Yeah... Sorry about that. You might notice that I repeat a lot of phrases in this chapter, because everyone feels the same. It's hard to want to defend something and not feel the same way, I guess? I would love to say it was on purpose but… it wasn't. (sigh) Sorry… By the way, how is the Thatch arc so far? **WARNING: Severe OOCness**

As he watched Luffy's features twisting in pain, Thatch could feel nothing but regret.

Fury, and regret, coiling in his gut like a twisting snake. He wanted nothing more than to scream. To cry, to shout, to just do _something_. To show his fury. And to show how much it hurt, knowing that he couldn't do anything to stop the expression that was on the kid's face.

Pops stood up, his face darkening as his grip tightened around his bisento. "Be prepared!" He roared, rage wrapped tightly around his words. "The rest of your short life…" Pops stepped forwards. "You shall regret ever even knowing our name."

Takashi said nothing, merely smirked cockily. "Would I?" He asked coolly, infuriating Pops even more when he remained cool.

Ignorance was bliss. This man must have been ignorant of Pops' true strength, Thatch thought, fists tightening. If he had known, he wouldn't dare to enrage Pops like this.

Pops' voice softened dangerously, quiet and calm. So calm that even Thatch felt chills travel down his spine. "Usually, at this point, I would offer you your last chance to repent… but you don't deserve even that."

Takashi said nothing in reply to that, didn't shake in fear, but merely laughed loudly, and Luffy turned even paler than he had been before and looked as though he wanted to scream but didn't have enough energy to through the pain that he was feeling.

 _You'll pay for that…_ Thatch raised a fisted hand to his face, surprised when he found that he was shaking. Did he care for the kids that much? He barely knew them, really… they, while cheerful and opening up now, were still secretive, and sometimes the tight rein the boys kept on their secrets shocked Thatch. _We know so much… Luffy's birthday. His powers. They were secret, when they had no right to be… no… they had every right. But it's not that dangerous to let us know…_

His eyes widened as he realized that Luffy was in there… but Ace and Sabo weren't. He whipped around, to see Ace shaking violently, eyes shadowed as he hung his head, fists clenched tightly as Sabo sat on him, seeming to hold him back from lunging at Takashi.

But Sabo, too, looked like he was about to snap… or break. Whichever would come first to him, Thatch supposed. Sabo stared at Luffy… straight at Luffy, unwilling to look at anything but his little brother.

"Trust us." Thatch whispered softly as he crouched down. Their heads both instantly snapped to turn at him, expressions torn in pain and fear. _So, that's what I must look like, eh?_ Thatch wondered humorlessly. "I know that you must have a hard time opening up to us, but you're beginning to trust us. And I don't want that broken… so… trust us. We'll save Luffy. We'll get rid of that marine freak. Trust us… alright?"

Sabo slid off Ace in his surprise at Thatch's words, before his eyes lowered. "I want to." He replied, voice hoarse and uncertain, as though he didn't know whether he should cry or scream. "I really do. But… this is Luffy." His hand flashed out and wrapped itself around Ace's wrist. "…I can't even trust Ace when it comes to my little brother. Ace can't either… that's why…" Sabo stood up and wrapped his arms around Ace's waist. "…He's trying to run to Luffy right now."

Thatch peered at Ace, suddenly seeing what Sabo saw. Ace leaned towards Luffy, his mouth open and whispering Luffy's name over and over fearfully, a wild look of panic stretched across his features, like an animal that was about to be killed, his body shaking violently in the need to reach his brother before it became too late.

Suddenly, with a chill, Thatch thought that if Luffy died, Ace would too. And if Ace broke inside and became a lifeless shell, Sabo wouldn't be able to bear with losing both of his brothers.

"We'll save him." Thatch repeated firmly, standing in front of Ace, who's fierce eyes turned to connect with his. "I swear my life on it. If he dies, do whatever you want to me. I don't care. We'll save him."

Ace's features broke into hesitant relief. "Please…" He whispered so softly that he might have mouthed it, and then sank to the floor, before he said, "Sabo, you can let go of me now."

Sabo gave Ace a hesitant look, before releasing him. "We'll be fine." Sabo told Ace, but he sounded as though he were trying to remind himself that, and they both sat down again, hands clasped together. "Just wait a while. That's all we have to do."

"Yeah." Thatch agreed, bitter that he was so useless in this situation. He sat down next to them and clasped his hands together, bowing his head, praying that Pops would get this over with quickly. "Just wait."

0o0o0o0o0o0

Garp had been searching for weeks. Perhaps even months. It felt like a lifetime, but not one birthday had passed… or at least he was pretty sure it hadn't.

He had searched every island in the East, North and South Blue. He had sent scouts to the West blue and had some stronger men comb the New World, even. He was desperate.

His grandchildren had gone missing.

When he arrived, and Dadan had stuttered out that she didn't know, that she, too was worried and about to call him. He had wanted to scream at her, to call her an incompetent slug, that she was useless and he wanted to destroy everything that stood in his path. But her red rimmed eyes and the exhausted way that she carried herself proved that she had searched the entire island and had been crying when she found nothing.

Makino had raced to him. _The Whitebeard Pirates._ She told him. _Sabo raced over and told me that they were leaving with them… that it was one of Luffy's whims. They'll be back._ She had said. _I'm sure…_ But she had looked uncertain, and bit her nails worriedly, even drinking the stock she was supposed to serve to any customers.

So Garp had searched for their Jolly Roger, informing Sengoku that he couldn't take any missions. His position in the marines was nothing compared to how he felt about his grandchildren.

And today, he had struck gold. Waving proudly in the strong wind that the Grand Line tended to have, the Whitebeard Pirate's flag.

Garp screamed an order, his burden lifted as his ship turned to their ship. But the sight he saw was all wrong. A marine… a vice admiral, who had the same position as him, holding his grandson hostage. The expression of pain on Luffy's face… and the firm will of the pirates that they would _protect him_.

Some part of Garp's mind was in denial. This couldn't be possible. Why would pirates… dirty scum of the sea… have honor? Why would they protect something that he, too, would protect? This was a dream… he was just too worried…

But his sane part knew better. Knew what kind of a man Whitebeard was… kind. Honorable. And, as much as he hated to use the word to describe a dirty pirate, he had his own sense of Justice. Although his lower subordinates tried to reassure him he must've been holding the three children hostage or something along those lines, and he tired to pretend that it was so, he knew that Whitbeard had treated them kindly.

That the three had chosen to follow the gentle giant.

They had chosen _him_ over Garp.

And as much as it felt like a punch to the gut, seeing the undeniable truth before him, he couldn't help but think that it was okay. As long as they got Luffy out of this mess. As long as the other marine… Vice Admiral Takashi, he believed, an uncoth man who he had once worked with and avoided ever since… was dealt with fairly.

Whitebeard could go free. He didn't care. As long as Luffy was safe… Ace, and even Sabo, who's situation he barely knew, who's smile he rarely saw… he would free all the prisoners of Impel Down if it meant his grandsons' safety.

Ace's eyes, which used to be completely filled with hatred for the world, had started to be filled with joy. He had smiled more. But now, all Garp could see was fear in his grandson's dark eyes as he tightly clenched his fists, looking furious that he was too weak to do anything.

Sabo's hesitation, once too scared to step outside his boundaries, had gone far past them and had been bold, chasing his dream and willing to go against Garp to fulfill them. Now, head bowed, hands wrapped around each other, his lips moved in a silent prayer that his brother would be safe.

Luffy was Garp's only blood grandson. But those two were his grandsons too. All three of them were suffering… and despite the fact that they were foolish and naïve, he loved them all the same. He would give up his life for their smiles.

So he stepped on the ship, and roared in anger.

He had fought alongside a pirate.

The living symbol of what he fought.

And, for once in his life, he couldn't care less.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Shock didn't quite cover it when Vice Admiral Garp raced onto their ship and fought alongside Pops, fighting the marine.

Wonder, though there, didn't quite fully cover it either.

Not even awe could describe the indescribable moment. The only thing that could've been more shocking was Sengoku fighting alongside Roger… which he heard had happened once, but had never seen before. To say that Thatch was surprised was just about the greatest understatement of all time.

But just as Garp turned to deal with the cronies and Whitebeard defended the back of the marine… one of his rivals, but at the moment an ally… Takashi struck, a triumphant smile on his lips as he zoomed in on the kill.

Thatch didn't know what he did.

He had just… reacted.

He raced forwards, screaming in fury, and had killed the man. The lifeless body fell to the floor, and he could feel everyone's eyes on him, expressions of awe and amazement on every person's face.

The darkness wrapped around Luffy vanished, and the small boy fell to the ground, unconscious. Ace and Sabo raced forwards with the rest of his family and clutched at Luffy desperately like a lifeline, Garp not far behind, desperately shouting Luffy's name over and over and shouting happily in relief when the nurses declared Luffy to be relatively fine… meaning alive.

A shout from a cook in the kitchens came out, and he raced from the kitchens, a dark fruit covered in swirls in his hand.

"I found a fruit!" The man panted, holding it up in shock. "The apple I was chopping… it… it turned into a devil fruit!"

 **OMAKE: Meeting Whitebeard… or The Troubles of Being an Older Brother**

As he casually twirled his staff in the air, Sabo tilted his head slightly to smirk at his two brothers. "So," He began casually, "What disaster are we going to stop Luffy from causing today?"

Luffy pouted. "Aw, Sabo, I'm not that bad!"

At his statement, Ace made a queer sound, looking as though he didn't know whether he should be in sarcastic disbelief or be laughing so hard that his ribcage would snap. "Mm…" He muttered. "Not a disaster. We won't stop Luffy from causing a disaster."

At those words, Sabo's eyebrows rose past his hairline and Luffy gave a triumphant exclamation of, "See, Sabo, at least _Ace_ is on my side." The youngest of the three paused, then became suspicious. "Ace, why are you on my side?" He demanded.

Ace smirked. "I never said that I was on your side." He replied nonchalantly. "I mean that we'll have to stop you from many disaster _s_."

"Why do you have to be like that?" Luffy asked, pouting.

Ace shrugged. "It's just the way that I am." He replied.

Luffy sighed, then smiled brightly. "I'll try to keep out of trouble." He said cheerily, before sniffing the air. His eyes widened. "Meat!" He exclaimed hungrily, before marching off like a dog on the hunt.

…

"So, uh, are we going to go stop him?" Ace asked curiously after a short pause.

Sabo started. "…OMIGOSH, WE JUST LET HIM LOOSE… ON THE SHIP…" He groaned. "It's already too late, I know that. We can't stop it now… Luffy's like a force of nature. We can't stop the tornados that are coming… I'm scared…"

He was interrupted by a roar of laughter.

"GURARARARA, Brat, what are you doing here?" A deep voice boomed across the deck.

There was a loud snicker of response, before a cheery, familiar voice replied, "I just came here, Giant Ossan! By the way, do you poop?"

The two older brothers exchanged looks, before both turning beet red in embarrassment. "I think that we found him." Ace whispered with a slight groan of hopelessness.

"I think we did." Sabo agreed, equally miserable.

They sighed. "We're in trouble, aren't we?" Ace asked, almost wistfully as he began to trudge towards the voices.

"Why do you think that?" Sabo asked sarcastically, before going after him. "Yeah, big time."

They both let out equal sighs of defeat.

 _Why did I ever agree to be his big brother?_


	19. The Beginning of the End

**A/N:** Did you notice that when Luffy tells Ace he'll become stronger after Sabo's death he says it 13 times, and that he said "When I'm 13 like you, I'll be the strongest" earlier? I'm making pathetic connections, I know.

His heart pounded. His tongue felt dry. And Thatch could do nothing but stare, amazed at the mere idea of this amazing, one of a kind dark fruit once being an ordinary apple.

Was such a miracle truly possible? Morphing such a common, every day fruit into something like this?

As a chef, he was amazed.

But now, he felt torn between his awe of the fruit and guilt for the proposition that Pops was offering him.

"I… I can't…" He replied quickly, his tongue tripping over the words, his mind whirling at the thought. "It belongs to you. Or…" He swallowed the lump in his throat, casting a glance at the marine talking softly with Ace and Sabo while Luffy played nearby. "…or Garp-san. Not me. I didn't do anything… I…"

His father shook his head. "You deserve it." He replied gently. "You helped me out, and Garp… though he was helpful, he is still a marine. It would be foolish to give our enemies the upper hand like this."

"But… I don't deserve it." Thatch replied, hanging his head.

Pops smiled gently, and patted his head with a large finger. "Perhaps you believe that." He replied. "But I see it differently. Besides," He laughed loudly. "I've already eaten a devil fruit, remember? What would I do with another one?"

"Oh, right…" Thatch flushed, before accepting it and bowing. "Thanks, Pops."

A gently smile was his response. "No worries, brat." Pops replied. "And if you decide not to eat it, you can give it to one of your brothers or sisters. Though…" Pops paused. "Please don't give it to Namur. Or let him eat it by accident. He's not just our best swimmer but also uses water in his fighting technique and if he eats a devil fruit…" Pops groaned at the thought.

Thatch chuckled, and raised a hand to his forehead in a teasing salute. "Aye, aye, captain!" He replied cheerfully.

Pops smiled gently. "Why don't you go show off to everyone else now?" He asked, a reply to the sloppy salute. "Show the younger ones what a big man you are."

Thatch stared for a moment, a thoughtful expression on his features, before a wide smile stretched across his features and he stuck his tongue out, a decision he wouldn't have had the guts to make even last week. "I'm not that full of myself." He sniffed, before pausing, and declaring, "Oh, wait, yes I am." With a whoop, he hurtled himself toward Luffy before telling a tall tale of how he had bravely taken on Takeshi and saved Luffy heroically.

Ace hit the top of Luffy's head, grumbling that it wasn't true and that Thatch was simply an attention hog, but he, too, was listening to the story with a grudged interest.

Sabo merely smiled, turned to Garp, and murmured something in a low, firm voice.

Garp frowned, and his features darkened, and he murmured something back, his voice tight and filled with fury. But Sabo merely shook his head and stood up, though he looked regretful about whatever they had just been talking about, and jogged over towards Thatch.

Thatch's heart pounded even louder as Garp stood up, fists clenched and head bowed. The Vice Admiral stomped over to Pops, and angrily cried out, "My grandsons have chosen you! Don't you dare wrong them, or I will come for your head! If you make them sad, or betray them, or make them hate you, you won't live to regret it, I can promise you that!"

Pops stood up. "That will never happen." He replied confidently, his voice equally loud, his eyes firm with resolution. "They are now my sons."

Ace stiffened ever so slightly at the word 'son'. Softly, Ace mouthed it, looking both scared and relieved. "He accepts us?" He muttered to Sabo and Luffy in a voice so soft that Thatch could barely hear him. "Whitebeard… accepts us? And the old man's okay with it?"

Sabo smiled sadly. "Yeah." He replied, his voice equally soft but filled with regret. Over what, Thatch could only wish he knew. "I had a… talk with him. Whitebeard-san… _Pops_ … negotiated as well."

Luffy looked worried. "We'll still see jii-chan, right?" He asked curiously. "I don't want to never see jii-chan again! He'll come visit, right? Like on special days, right?"

"Of course he will, brat." Thatch chuckled, ruffling Luffy's hair. "What, did you think that we were going to keep your prisoner or something?" Luffy laughed as well, relief practically rolling off him in waves.

"Well, jii-chan's a marine!" He explained. "So I don't want him to come over and you guys go bam! Ka boom! With each other, because I like all of you and I don't like it when you fight as enemies…" He paused, and smiled brightly. "Because I don't want my favorite people to be mad at each other!"

Thatch ducked his head down as his cheeks began to burn. "Why are you saying such embarrassing things?" He demanded, unable to stop the warm feeling of joy from spreading around his body. "G-give us some warning next time!"

"Huh?" Luffy cocked his head to the side, eyebrows drawing together in confusion. "What?"

Sabo snickered. "Get used to it." The blond lectured him, looking amused at his discomfort. "Luffy's straightforwardness is going to be a daily thing."

Thatch smiled broadly in response. "I know!" He agreed, giddy with excitement. "Now you guys are permanently going to stay here!"

Sabo coughed. "Well, until we're 17, at least. Then we'll leave to form our own pirate crews."

Thatch snickered, in a _I know something that you don't, you poor soul_ type of way. "Yes, of course you will!" He replied in amusement, fighting a losing battle to keep a straight face.

Sabo stuck out his tongue, looking slightly miffed. "You may think that we're going to change our minds and stay, but we're _not_!"

Thatch raised a knowing eyebrow, saying nothing in response, but merely smiling as though saying, _oh, you think that you're going to have a_ choice _about this, eh? That's funny!_

Sabo's cheeks flushed even redder than they already were. "Really!" He exclaimed, looking almost as irritated as Ace usually was. "We'll just visit every once in a while or something with our own crews!"

"Alright, kiddo." Smiling slightly, Thatch ruffled Sabo's hair. "Why not go with your theory for a while?" Sabo looked like he was at the end of his rope at that statement, and with a huff, crossed his arms, stalking sulkily over to Ace and muttering something sourly under his breath.

Ace, who still had a stunned, frozen look on his features, smiled hesitantly, and replied loudly enough for Thatch to hear, "Who knows, Sabo? You may change your mind. A lot can happen in six years, after all!" in a loud, cocky imitation of Thatch.

…not that it sounded anything like him, of course. The great Thatch-sama sounded waaay cooler than _that_.

Thatch smiled as he watched his three new _permanent_ brothers, and, thinking back to his new treasure, felt giddy joy spread in his body. _The day's going well_. He decided, deeply satisfied with his results. _And, I bet, it's going to get even better._

After all, nothing could dampen his spirits! Today, nothing could go wrong!

…Right?

0o0o0o0o0o0

As he tiptoed his way through the dark halls of the Moby Dick, Teach smiled to himself in satisfaction. He opened the door to Thatch's room and put the orange haired man onto his bed.

"Thanks, Teach." Thatch mumbled, slightly drunk, but still in control of his senses to a vague degree. "That was one great party, eh?"

"Aye, sir." Teach agreed, pasting a cheerful smile on his lips. "Wasn't today a great day for you? You got a devil fruit… and the kiddies joined us, of course." He added the last part hastily, remembering his momentary act. _No longer…_ He thought to himself, elated at the thought of no longer having to pretend. "But the devil fruit…"

"Yeah." Thatch looked like he was slightly disturbed, but torn between the decision to eat it or to give it to someone else. "I don't know what to do with it… I don't like the idea of having that power." The orange haired man shivered, hands clasped tightly together, head bowed, lips pressed so tightly together that they turned white. "It scares me… the darkness, I mean. The idea of having that same power that hurt Luffy so much terrifies me… but at the same time, this is a great offer from Pops. I mean…"

The foolish man fell silent, contemplating, seeming so deep in his thoughts that he almost forgot the presence of the man who would soon become a traitor.

"If it were me, I'd seize the chance." Teach offered up, smiling slightly as though he were offering advice, not revealing what he was about to do. _Right now, I'm seizing the chance. No risks taken… Whitebeard will fall soon._ "The offer of the power of a devil fruit… it seems too brilliant to pass up! I'd give up anything for that power… well…" He chuckled. "Almost anything." _Anything except my revenge._

Thatch smiled fondly, obviously stupidly believing that Teach was talking about his family, though Teach had no idea why he'd be so idiotic as to leave emotional ties with those fawning, brainless excuses for pirates.

"Yeah." Thatch agreed with what he assumed that Teach was saying. "I'd never give up my family." He pointed at the small wooden box sitting innocently on top of his dresser. "Especially not for something as dangerous as a fruit…" The orange haired cook paused. "It hurt them. But maybe…" He curled up his fingers into a tight fist, and he whispered hesitantly, "do you think that I could use that power to protect them?"

Teach wrapped an arm around Thatch's body in a 'hug', and his left hand silently drew out the dagger from his belt as his left arm also wrapped around the drunk's body. He slid the dagger into Thatch's back, smiling when Thatch stiffened and gasped in pain.

Teach laughed loudly, amused as Thatch tried to bring the dagger out with shaky hands. "You, protect them?" He scoffed, before bringing the dagger out and stabbing Thatch again. "What a joke! You can't even protect yourself, commander." Laughing loudly, he picked up the box on the dresser. "Thanks for helping me take down your oh so precious Pops." He teased Thatch.

"No…" Thatch whispered. "Stop…"

But he was much too weak to do anything to stop Teach.

0o0o0o0o0o0

"I'm too weak." Ace clenched his hands into fists, fury boiling inside of his body. "Why? Why am I so weak that I can't even protect a single person?" He curled up into a ball, burying his face in his knees. "What did I do that was so wrong that this happened?"

Sitting next to him, Sabo frowned. "It's not your fault." He replied, scolding Ace. "It's nobody except that stupid, dead Vice Admiral's fault. He's gone. It's nobody's fault. You didn't do anything wrong. And we'll get stronger together… It wasn't your fault…" His voice softened, and he looked equally resentful of himself, suddenly filled with self loathing. "It's as much yours as it was mine."

"Stop it." Luffy's voice was cracking, dangerously on the edge of tears even though he was the only one of the three that shouldn't have been crying. "I don't want to see Ace and Sabo like this… I don't want to see my brothers when they're not happy. I want my brothers to be happy…" He took Ace's hand one of his hands, and gently took Sabo's in his other hand, and his lips stretched out in a wobbly attempt of a cheery grin, a ghost of what he usually did. "So smile, alright?"

Sabo smiled slightly and squeezed Luffy's hand. "Alright." He agreed." But his voice was trembling slightly, and his grip didn't loosen on the small hand, his mind flashing back to the untouchable darkness, and the reminder of how absolutely useless he was…

"Tch." Ace scowled and turned away, but Sabo could catch the attempt of a smile trying to paste itself on his lips and the bright reddening of his brother's cheeks when he failed. "Like I'm going to smile just because of that."

Luffy smiled brightly. "I know!" He exclaimed excitedly. "How about we go to Thatchy and ask him to help us get stronger? He defeated the mean darkness dude, right? So he can help us!"

Sabo cast a hesitant glance at Ace. "I dunno…" The blond murmured softly. "I mean, they're partying right now and…."

Ace stood up suddenly, letting go of Luffy's hand. "Let's do it." Ace declared, determined.

Sabo blinked in surprise. "Are you sure?" He asked hesitantly.

Ace gave him a cocky, arrogant smirk that did little to hide the hesitance in his eyes. "When am I not?" Ace asked boldly.

 _Right now._ Sabo thought, then smiled. _But I'm glad for it. Ace is starting to open up but…_ Sabo froze. Did he want to open up to the crew? He supposed he wanted to but… _but_ …

Ace wouldn't get hurt. He couldn't. The crew would be alright with his heritage when they trusted them with that information…

 _It was impossible_ , Sabo mentally despaired. _I mean, it's not like they're_ Luffy _. There's no way that_ every single _one of them would accept it… it's too much to hope for._

Hoping for a miracle was futile, he knew as he turned the doorknob to Thatch's cabin, not bothering to knock since he knew that Thatch would either be not there or too drunk to care and remember in the morning.

And then, he instantly sank to the floor, vomit rising in his throat and fear swirling inside of him at the sight his eyes found.

Thatch's eyes widened as he caught sight of the three boys. "No…" The once confident man whispered as he staggered weakly towards Teach… what was happening? "Not you… please… run…" His gasped pleas were ignored as Sabo kneeled, stunned.

Ace's features were twisted in fury. "What happened?" He demanded.

Teach smirked, tossing a small wooden chest in his hand from hand to hand. "I happened." He replied arrogantly, and laughed. "Now try not to scream, kiddies. It would be irritating if I had to fight before I fully got my powers… and I haven't eaten this fruit yet. Be nice and quiet, okay?"

A strangled sob came from Luffy. "You did this to Thatchy?" He asked in a small voice.

Sabo and Ace turned to their little brother, features both filled with horror when they realized that their brother was there. He was seeing this. He saw Thatch, bleeding and betrayed…

"Luffy…" Ace's voice was the barest hint of a whisper.

"And what if I did this to your precious Thatchy?" Teach asked mockingly.

"Don't hurt my friends…" Luffy whispered, starting to cry. "DON'T HURT THEM!"

And his Conquerer's Haki exploded.

 **A/N:** This was not only early, but longer than usual! Why? Today's my birthday, so I'm giddy.


	20. Epilogue

**A/N:** (jaw drops) I had so much reviews after that chapter! Was that considered the climax? We're reviewing climax in class… Did you like it?

He could feel it.

They all could.

A tense, powerful sensation ripping the air, so terrifyingly strong that it whipped around the entire Moby Dick, the fury so great that the weaker crew members fainted and the moderate fighters felt weak.

The source of the powerful, incredibly terrifying power was a small, scared child, who was crying and doing something he didn't even know how to control in order to protect his brother.

They all ran towards the source, before catching sight of the situation.

Ace's wide eyes, filled with something like... recognition of the haki?

Sabo, amazed, but still hugging his brother in an attempt to calm him down.

Thatch, who looked weak, but it seemed more due to the stab wounds than the haki, which had avoided him somehow. Perhaps because he was the one it was protecting.

Teach, though looking considerably weakened, lunging towards Luffy, an expression of murderous fury darkening his features, a wooden box in one hand and a dagger in the other.

Despite Pops' denial, Marco could instantly form the situation in his head, and he knew that the one he had once thought of as a precious brother was nothing more than a dirty traitor.

Before anybody else could, Marco _moved_ , only half realizing what he was doing and only fully realizing what he had done when Teach went hurtling through the air, gasping on shock as he stared at Marco, for a moment his eyes filled with shock, before burning Marco with intense hatred.

"Stop." Pops commanded. His voice sounded slightly wobbly, and confused, but underneath it all Marco could hear the crack in it and how it was all Pops could do not to break down. "You're attacking without thinking… attacking one of your brothers is wrong, Marco."

The way he said the words was numb and stiff, as though he didn't really know what was happening and was scared of the possibilities. "He's not my brother." Marco hissed. "He's a dirty traitor."

He could see the desperation in his father's eyes. The silent plea for him to smile lightly and say, "Just kidding! This was all just an act to amuse you! Haha!" but they all knew that that would never happen. They had just witnessed someone Pops had accepted harm his family… something that would never be forgiven.

Luffy's soft cries grew even quieter until they faded away. The small boy wiped at his cheeks before running over to Thatch, Haruta and Aria not too far behind him. "I'm sorry…" Luffy whispered over and over like a broken record, hugging his knees to his chest and burying his face in his arms. "I'm sorry that you got hurt, Thatchy…"

Ace and Sabo ran up to Thatch as well, surveying the stab wounds with expressions of stunned fear. "I thought this place was safe." Sabo whispered hollowly. "I thought you were _family_."

Thatch, too, looked stunned, and his shoulders were shaking even as Aria pulled him up and began to lead him to the infirmary. "I did, too." Thatch whispered, eyes glazed over as he stiffly followed Aria. "I thought I was safe…" His voice, usually so loud and confident, was now filled with childish confusion and on the verge of breaking.

"You are." Haruta assured firmly, but she, too, looked shaken up that something like this had happened and she may not have noticed it had it not been for Luffy being in the right place at the right time… and having that ability, too. "We're all safe. Teach was an acceptation… he was different from us."

"How do you know that?" Ace demanded. "How do you know that not everyone's a traitor? Maybe you're all just pretending! Maybe your family doesn't really care about you! How can you still trust them?" He looked scared. And he looked like a kid.

Haruta stared, as though remembering that Ace wasn't an adult. That he, despite his ability to cope on his own, still needed someone to help him every once in a while. "I don't." She finally answered, sadly. "But if Sabo betrayed you, wouldn't you still trust Luffy?" At that question, all of Ace's accusations seemed to die on his lips.

Haruta gave him a small, bleak smile, too weary to feel victory at succeeding in making Ace speechless. _I thought we were safe here._ Sabo's words echoed in her mind. _Of course we're safe._ She thought, determined that it was true. _…right?_

0o0o0o0o0o0

Standing in front of Whitebeard, Ace cleared his throat in an attempt to find his voice. "We have something important to tell you, ossan." He said meekly, a failed attempt to speak with confidence.

Whitebeard laughed, and leaned forwards. "So, what do you need to tell me?" He asked.

Ace's tongue felt dry, and it was suddenly hard to speak. "I…" _Stupid Luffy…_ How did he get into this mess again?

 _-Flashback-_

" _We're telling him." Standing firmly in front of the door, Luffy's features were set in determination. "I don't care if you don't want me to, I telling our family every single one of our secrets!"_

 _Sabo's head was buried in his knees, and the meek mumble that escaped the mop of blond and blue could have been a 'yes', a 'no', or anything else. "No, you're not." He raised his head enough for his words to be heard clearly, and then folded back in on himself._

" _I don't care how you try to stop me!" Luffy replied firmly, in his desperate attempt to make his brothers stop sulking over who knew what and to try to do something. Anything. He didn't even care if had to almost die, this was getting ridiculous! "I'm going!" He turned and began to turn the doorknob when a hand settled on his._

" _Stop, Luffy." Ace commanded angrily. "You don't have any right to tell our secrets."_

 _Luffy stuck his tongue out. "Too bad, because I'm going to!" He replied, before throwing the door open and running off. "Stupid Ace! Stupid Sabo! I'm going to spill all of your secrets!"_

" _Luffy, stop!" Ace rushed to Sabo. "This is a good time to stop moping!" He desperately tugged on the blonde's arm. "Come on, Sabo! Where did my brother go?"_

 _Sabo stood up. "I'm right here." He whispered._

 _Ace gave Sabo a dark look. "Are you really here?" He demanded. "Because I can't stop Luffy by myself, and I need you right now!"_

" _I'm right here!" Sabo repeated, his voice much stronger than it had been before, and he tugged on Ace's arm. "Fine, let's go!"_

 _-End of Flashback-_

Yet somehow, they had ended up here, all ready to confess their secrets to Whitebeard, who was casting the three an expectant gaze.

"I…" The first word was forced out, and though Ace moved his mouth, he couldn't find himself speaking.

After a long moment of silence, Whitebeard began to prod. "You?" He asked.

"I'm a noble." Sabo stepped forwards, his eyes cold in determination. "Or at least, I'm the son of nobles. But I hate them! I'm nothing like them! Your parents don't determine your worth! _You_ determine that by yourself, and your own actions!" He trembled slightly, and his eyes flickered to Ace. "And if you think differently, good riddance to bad company."

Whitebeard stared at the three for a moment, seeming to contemplate something, before bursting into laughter as the children stared at him, wide eyed in confusion. "Well said." He agreed with a fond smirk. "We're all children of the sea."

"I'm the son of Gol D. Roger!" Ace burst out, his eyes wide as he whipped his head up, staring at Whitebeard with eyes wider than saucers, pleading for him to accept it, though Ace seemed to be deceiving himself into believing that acceptance for something he couldn't control was impossible. "Are you okay with _that_?"

Whitebeard smiled as gently as he could. "Why wouldn't I be?" He asked in reply, his voice as warm as the sun.

Ace's shoulders slumped, and he seemed to be in too much shock to speak. Luffy smiled at him. "I knew you'd accept my brothers, giant ossan!" He declared faithfully, before smiling at Ace. "See, we can stay!"

"…Y-yeah." Ace's lips were quirked into a half smile of relief. "We can."

He sounded so amazed. "We'll tell the rest of the crew as soon as you're alright with it." Whitebeard informed them. "It may take a while, but I'm sure you'll warm up. You can tell one or two that you're alright with… for example, Marco, Thatch, Izou or Jozu. You seem pretty comfortable with them."

"Haruta already knows." Sabo informed him.

Whitebeard smiled. "I see." He replied. So that was why she had been acting so jittery after Ace, Sabo and Luffy had first arrived at the ship. _No wonder. It may be quite a bit for my children to take in. But I'm sure that they'll accept it._ After all, what type of father doesn't have faith in his children?

0o0o0o0o0o0

 **A Few Months Later…**

"Regretting the fact that you told us?"

Whipping his head around to peer at Marco, dark eyes brimming with exhaustion, Ace laughed slightly. "Surprisingly, no." He replied, a slight smile of relief on his lips. "I feel like a huge weight's been taken off of me… it's amazing how you were all okay with it."

Marco smiled in response. "It would take quite a bit to faze us… if it's even possible to do so. We all come from different backgrounds…" His finger twitched and a small blue flame flickered to life on his finger, illuminating the two in the poorly lit night. "We're all special in our own way."

Ace nodded for a moment, seeming to digest Marco's words. "When I told them who my father was… they all laughed. Like they were saying, You were worrying over something as small and insignificant as _that_? And… it gave me this strange feeling."

Marco blinked. "What strange feeling?" He asked curiously. "…Wait, you're not sick, are you?"

Ace laughed lightly. "No, I don't think so." He replied, amused. "But… it was like my chest felt warm. Like it was hurting before—yet somehow I hadn't even noticed it my entire life—and suddenly it was healed. It felt… good." He frowned slightly. "It feels like when Luffy smiles, or when Sabo laughs."

"Ah." Marco smiled softly. "In that case, I understand what you're feeling. I think that we've all felt it at some time."

"Do you think that… Pops will take us as his sons?"

As Marco whipped his head to give all his attention to Ace, the freckled boy quickly ducked his head, red faced.

"I mean… just…" Ace couldn't finish his sentence, his cheeks burning deep crimson.

"What are you talking about?" Marco asked, laughing loudly. "You're already his sons!"

Ace's wide eyed look of shock was priceless. Marco smiled. "What?" He asked. "Did you think that you weren't our brother? We're family."

 **A/N:** Flops to the floor, exhausted. SO! This is what I'll call 'The End', for now at least. I still have some loose ends that I want to connect in order to write the sequel, but I may just go ahead and write the sequel. I probably won't inform you by posting a 'chapter' on this, so check my profile every other month or so? Sorry… (bows) It's been a long journey… ew, why do I sound so formal? Anyways, thanks for all your support and being awesome! The sequel… no idea what it'll be called… 'Forever Together', maybe? Cheesy…


	21. Sabo's Birthday and Revolutionaries

"Dragon-san. _Dragon-san_." Snapping her fingers in front of Dragon's face, all Koala could do was sigh. She should have known that he'd be like this, after all, this was one of the first times they were sailing. And honestly, it had taken her more than an hour to get up the courage to try to snap him out of his blank… whateverness. "Are you alright, Dragon-san?" She asked in concern.

Beside her, Iva-chan sighed. "Iz no use." Iva-chan informed her. "Dragon-chan is thinking of his cute, rosy, fat cheeked little baby boy… who he neglected!" The last words were a yelled exclamation of obviously repeated irritation, declared with a slight pout. "And I wanted to dress the little boy in cute little dresses…"

Koala smiled nervously, "Ah…" Was all she could say in response, instantly feeling tongue tied, and suddenly feeling understanding as to why Dragon-san had 'neglected' his son.

Being abandoned by your father was much better than being left at the hands of Iva-chan as an infant… Koala shivered at the thought. Many men still were traumatized by Iva-chan's attempts at turning them over to being okama… a nightmare that had caused many to consider quitting the revolutionary army.

Although, of course, Iva-chan meant well… Koala suspected that Dragon-san preferred a normal son to an okama son, though okamas were wonderful people as well.

"Koala-chan?" She quickly whipped around, and bowed apologetically when she ended up knocking heads with Toru, the man on the crew who was closest in age to her at 22 (which wasn't saying much, since she was still 12). Toru laughed, before a quick apology escaped his lips as well. "No worries, it was my fault for sneaking up on you." He snickered slightly at the bright red invading her face before smiling lightly and pointing at the water.

No… wait… Koala's heart pounded in excitement, and she barely had time to wonder, _is that… maybe? …it's…!_ and she practically flew over to the crow's nest, her feet barely touching the wood before she scrambled awkwardly up the nets to reach the very top.

"Amano-san!" She exclaimed a good couple of seconds before her head popped up as well, before her body followed, her arms clumsily helping her inch forwards. "Is that them?"

Amano chuckled slightly, her lips falling into an easygoing smirk before she teasingly asked, "What do you think, dear Koala?"

Thrumming with excitement, Koala raced onto the wooden railing holding up their sails before leaping onto the sails and smoothly sliding down, landing perfectly before unceremoniously landing on her butt. "Ow…" She muttered, rubbing her backside with slight whimpers.

"Goes to show you should wait until you're as awesome as me to do that next time." Toru snickered slightly before helping her up, his lips turned up in amusement. "I remember how long it took to coach you to get the guts to do that… you were all 'but what if I inconvenience everyone?'. It was hilarious."

Koala processed her words, and grumbled in reply after a moment of thought (because she was being trained in being snarky… apparently she acted more like a 90 year old than a 12 year old, something she thought strange because why would they _want_ her to talk back?), "Oh, shut up." She paused, and thought it over, then smiled sweetly. "Oh, do you _want_ to be inconvenienced? We have a masochist here in our midst!"

"Oh hush, you little brat." Toru swatted at her head lightly, which she easily dodged, and they laughed.

"Well, we're here." Eyes bright, Koala eyed the massive ship before them hungrily, wondering what brilliant curiosities it would have in store for her to discover. "May we board ship, now?"

Toru ruffled her hair. "Eager, eh?" He asked, a warm smile softening his features. "Well, I don't blame you. The Moby Dick's quite a thing to be on… or so I've heard from the few men who've been on there. All old guys, veterans." Toru winked at Koala. "I think we'd be the first on the Moby Dick from the Revolutionary Army who _don't_ have a head full of white hair."

Koala smiled back in anticipation. "We're here for someone's birthday, right? Is it someone important?"

"Hm…" Toru looked curious as well. "I'm not sure. But old man Whitebeard sent Dragon-sama a personal invitation… said something about Dragon's son. Our boss was quite eager, I'm sure, even if he doesn't seem to be." Toru smirked as a new thought approached him. "I bet he's freaking out over how to seem cool."

Koala giggled at the thought, before a bright voice cried out, "ALL ABOARD! Hey, jiji, did I say that right?"

There was a deep chuckle, before an equally deep voice replied, "Sure did, brat."

Koala didn't bother to wait for the others. As soon as Dragon walked onto the other ship on a rope ladder, she leaped up as high as she could go, and, as she caught sight of a gaping little boy with a straw hat perched atop his head, she decided to show off a little as she flipped and landed perfectly on her feet.

On their own ship, the _Freedom Chaser_ , Toru scowled and stuck out his tongue when he noticed her looking. "Show off." He grumbled, before he ran forwards, and following Koala's lead, leaped up high. Just to spite her, he twisted slightly, did a backflip midair, and then landed on his hands before springing onto his feet.

Dragon-san and an old giant who Koala assumed was Whitebeard both shared a knowing, exasperated look before chuckling, and Whitebeard murmured, "Children." As though that explained everything. Dragon looked like he understood, though, and said, "It's not my son's birthday."

"No." Whitebeard agreed. "It's _my_ sons." Dragon's eyes darkened slightly at those words, but he dipped his head into a regretful nod.

"That… was… SO COOL!" The small boy with the straw hat dashed up to them, eyes bright in excitement as he cried out, "Can you teach me how to do that?"

Toru smiled slightly, before replying, "It's a little dangerous, little boy. Maybe when you're older."

"Awn." He pouted slightly. "No fair." He paused, before puppy dog eyes replaced his wide expanses of brown, and he pleaded, "Just a little trick?"

Koala turned bright red. "Well, oh, well… sure, why not…?"

"She's not teaching anybody anything." A sharp, cold voice cut smoothly into their conversation as a dark haired boy with freckles picked the straw hatted boy up by the back of his shirt. "Did you forget about not being able to swim, Luffy?"

"Aw, but _Ace_!" Luffy whined. "It's just a little trick!"

Ace's withering glare seemed to put a sudden halt to their plans of having any lessons that… totally… didn't… appear in her head at all… Koala gulped as he shot her a no nonsense look. _Yep… he's SCARY!_ Then, just as sudden as his appearance, his anger seemed to melt away, and he sighed, running a hand through short black locks. "Sorry." He mumbled, bowing slightly and forcing Luffy to do so as well. "He's a handful… Lu, apologize for bothering this nice girl!"

Luffy pouted. "Do I _haveta_?" He asked with a slight groan.

Ace raised an eyebrow.

"Fine!" Still pouting, Luffy turned to them. "Sorry." He mumbled, before bowing and giving them a truly apologetic look for about two milliseconds, something so quick that Koala had almost missed it before a bright and impossibly wide grin covered half his face. "Ne, ne, that was really cool! How did you do that?"

"Lots of practice." Koala replied with a sheepish smile. "I still have to work on it… just got lucky this time. If I was unlucky I would've landed on my butt."

Luffy giggled as well, before pulling on her arm. "Do you want to meet my other big brother?" He chirped cheerily. "Uh…" He paused and stared at her in surprise. "What's your name?"

Toru face palmed. _"Now_ he remembers…" He muttered, but he sounded slightly amused.

Ace sighed. "Typical." The freckled boy muttered, shaking his head slightly. "Just typical."

Koala giggled. "My name's Koala, and this is Toru." She paused. "I don't have a last name, and I don't know Toru- _chan_ 's."

"You'll pay for that." Toru muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

"I'm sure you will." Koala replied sarcastically. "You sound quite pleased that I'm confident enough to snipe at you now." Toru scowled at her, realizing that it was true, however regretful.

"Oh!" The boy almost tripped over himself, before declaring, "I'm Monkey D. Luffy! And this is my brother…"

"Gol D. Ace." Ace interrupted, his dark eyes seeming to accuse them of something that they had yet to think, as though threatening them to not even let the thought cross their minds. "And yes, as in Gol D. Roger's _blood related_ son." It was almost like a grudged challenge.

Koala felt a little uneasy, but smiled brightly. "Cool." She replied. "Though I don't think it matters." Peering slightly at Luffy, she couldn't help the sheepish smile that found it's way to her features. _So_ that's _Dragon-sama's son… I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't even know he_ had _a dad._

Ace's features relaxed, and he seemed to instantly brighten. "Want to meet Sabo?" He asked, pointing at a blob of blue off in the distance. "It's his birthday that we're celebrating today."

Koala brightened as well. "For sure!" She exclaimed. "Let's go!" She turned, and smirked, "Well, come _on_!"

Luffy smiled even more widely, if possibly. "Race you there!" He cried childishly before sprinting towards his brother. For a moment Koala gaped at him and the dust that he had kicked up, before scowling.

"Oh _no_ you didn't!" She exclaimed before speeding off after him.

Left behind in the dust, Ace and Toru sweatdropped. "So, Ace." Toru coughed uncomfortably. "Should we go after them?"

Ace squinted slightly at them, before sighing. "All we'd do is get tired." He replied. "May as well take our time."

Toru smiled slightly. "I like the way you think." He commented.

Ace grinned in reply, and gave an exaggerated bow. "I try." He replied, looking relieved that Toru wasn't commenting on his introduction or blood relation. "So, you're part of the revolutionary army? What do you do?"

Toru could feel a full blown smile bursting on his face, threatening to break his face. "Well, our main goal is freedom, so basically…"

0o0o0o0o0

As Sabo perched on the ship's railing, he smiled at Koala, relieved to find a kindred soul in the madnesss that had become his everyday life. "So, Iva-chan's trying to convert you to dresses, eh?"

Koala sighed. "It would be okay if it was _just_ dresses." She stressed. "But they're these HUGE, bright pink dresses that hurt my eyes! I mean, I love Iva-chan and all but…" She shuddered. "I'm still recovering from the trauma of just seeing those huge hunks of mutated cloth."

Sabo snickered. "Must be hard to fight in those."

Koala glared at him. "Nice to know _someone_ finds this amusing." She said darkly, before sighing, "And you don't even know _half_ of it!" As she spoke, an odd expression suddenly crossed her face, something that made Sabo feel like Koala was sad for some reason.

"Oh?" Sabo raised an eyebrow, and laughed slightly in an attempt to make her feel better. "Well, I don't plan on being told the other half! I'm already convinced! Where's Iva-chan? I need to get you into that dress!" He snickered before racing off as she spluttered before giving chase, laughing slightly as well, the odd look gone.

Luffy, too, was racing with them, though he didn't seem to have a reason. Ace had comfortably settled with Dragon-sama, Whitebeard-san and a blond who had called himself Marco, chatting about something with a slight frown on his features.

As she ran, she watched as his features darkened slightly, holding tightly reined fury, before it dissolved at Whitebeard's slightly frown, and he nodded as Whitebeard said something in a gently reprimand. Ace's reply seemed cold and bitter, but after Dragon-sama said something, he seemed to relax before muttering something that caused them all to laugh.

"PRESENT TIME!" A loud voice declared, and Koala paused to stare at the orange haired man who called himself Thatch, but acted completely like a child. Honestly, he and Luffy were peas in a pod.

"Present time!" A red blur, shortly followed by a blue flash nearly knocked her over. Giggling slightly at the madness that seemed almost impossibly to contain on this ship, Koala followed the two at a much slower pace, and when she got there, Sabo was already tearing open his first present.

The blond paused when he noted the 'fragile' sign, and cautiously lifted the thing inside, staring in amazement at the snow globe… no… the _log pose_ inside.

It was a small, precious thing that was on a dark blue band, the color something that couldn't quite be described as navy because of the freedom it held, as though constantly shifting it's shade. The log pose was barely visible due to the falling slips of white swirling inside. The log pose was positioned on a miniature replica of an almost perfectly carved Moby Dick, and she could catch sight of the three brothers as well as Whitebeard and some others.

It was breath taking with it's intricate little patterns, and the figures inside that were so well done Koala imagined they might start moving any second.

"It's beautiful…" Sabo gasped, just as enchanted as she was as he ran a cautious finger over the glass, and exclaiming, "Are you sure I can have this?"

"No." A man with multiple braids and golden hoop earrings replied sarcastically, a small chuckle escaping his lips. "Of course, you little dolt! Who else's birthday is it?"

Sabo smiled sheepishly, before sighing. "I think that I'm in heaven." He sighed happily as he stared at it.

"Aw, don't tell me that you're going to leave _our_ presents in those stuffy boxes forever!" Thatch whined.

Sabo's features melted into a bright smile. "No, of course not!" He replied, grinning, and turned back to open the presents. His present from the revolutionaries was a book on navigation. From Izo and Haruta, some clothing. Unknown to Sabo, Haruta had spent hours convincing Izo to get the blond male clothing.

As Thatch and the rest of his division brought out the cake and banquet, and as laughter filled the air, Sabo couldn't help the smile that split his face as well.

"A smile looks nice on you." Sabo turned to blink curiously at Koala. Koala turned to him and smiled sheepishly, "You may not remember me, but after you were injured and Dragon-sama saved you from being killed by that noble, I helped to wrap up your bandages and tend your wounds."

"Oh…" Sabo blinked in surprise, turning slightly pink. "Thanks." He bowed in thanks.

Koala giggled. "No need to thank me!" She responded brightly. "I'm just glad you're okay. Those nobles…" Koala scowled, her face darkening as all signs of light heartedness disappeared, "They think they can do whatever they want because of how they were born. I can't forgive that. Being a little selfish, I can understand. But thinking that you can own humans… that lives are yours to control…" The wood she was gripping snapped in two, and her eyes widened as she realized what she had done. "A-ah, sorry." She mumbled, quickly stooping down to pick up the pieces.

Sabo knelt down next to her. "So you hate nobles?" He asked, feeling something lodge itself into his throat.

"Yeah." Koala nodded, her eyes still dark, but her lips beginning to curve into a smile as her features began to lighten again. "I can't forgive them for what they've done to people… to society. That's why I'm doing my best to do what I can to help Dragon-sama..."

Sabo swallowed. "Every single noble? All nobles?" He asked as he brushed some splinters into the sea.

Koala stared at him in confusion. "Why are you pressing the subject so much?" She asked. "Don't you feel the same way? Don't you hate nobles too?"

"Just for being born that way?" Sabo persisted. "What if—what if someone was born a noble and then was raised somewhere else? Let's say they were taken and raised with normal people, never thinking or knowing they were a noble. Or they didn't like how the other nobles were. Would you still hate them?"

Koala frowned. "Why are you asking so much about this?" She demanded, her voice icy cold.

Sabo's eyes flickered down. "…Because I'm a noble." He replied.

 **A/N:** SO! Forever Alive actually wasn't complete. Like I said earlier, I wanted to tie together some loose ends. This is one of them. I gave you almost 1000 more words than usual as an apology. Um… so… yeah? I hope you liked this.


	22. Forgiveness isn't Needed

**A/N:** I realize that this is really obvious, but when I'm an old person I want to be a pro author. During school, we're supposed to think about why. Why do I want to become an author? Should I? Am I good enough? What obstacles stand in my way? …Why am I asking you this? (sighs) Sorry. Here's your chapter.

For a long time, they merely stared at each other. Sabo could feel his heart pounding, and finally after a long moment of silence, he couldn't stand her intense gaze and looked away. "I'm sorry." He finally choked out. "It was stupid of me to… I just…" He stood up, throwing out the remaining splinters from the broken wood. "I'm sorry." He repeated brokenly, feeling numb and oddly disappointed.

 _You have no reason to be disappointed._ He reminded himself. _She has every right to hate you. You're a noble…_

But he had just… forgotten this feeling. This fear. He had forgotten that people hated nobles… forgotten that not everyone was Oyaji. That Koala probably had a strong reason for hating nobles.

Sabo had been spoiled by his family—family by bond, not by cursed blood. He had met people who accepted him, but they were the exceptions. There was no reason for him to expect any more of these blessings that he had long since taken for granted.

He couldn't stand it anymore, and staring at her wide blue eyes, he just backed away. _Blue._ Some part of his brain registered. _The color of the ocean. That color means freedom_. But staring into her eyes, he felt like he was chained to the spot, unable to move or escape the guilt. "I'm sorry." He whispered, before running off.

Koala sat there, numb in shock, staring into space. "He's a noble?" She repeated to herself, before staring in shock where he had just been. "Ah… no… wait, Sabo-san!" She started after him, only to trip, and on the ground, she stayed, filled with self loathing.

 _I don't hate Sabo_. She thought, closing her eyes. _He's not one of those corrupted nobles… if all nobles were like him, the Revolutionary Army wouldn't need to exist. Why would I hate Sabo? Sabo's kind… he's quiet, thoughtful, but he teases me and treats me like everybody else. He gets embarrassed when he's the center of attention, and when everyone else is happy he's happy to. He must hate me… because I said that I hated nobles._

Sitting up, Koala brushed away a strand of hair from her eyes and pressed her forehead down onto her knees. "I don't hate Sabo-san." She repeated, and then frowned. Something felt off about those words… wrong. "Sabo-san?" She repeated, frowning thoughtfully. Why did those words sound so wrong. She blinked, then said out loud, decisively, "Sabo-kun."

Because Sabo had assured her that they were equals. That they were friends… that he wasn't any higher than her. He had laughed when she first addressed him like that. " _Feels like I'm an old man_." He had joked, smiling teasingly. _"Did I suddenly turn wrinkled, or is my hair white?"_ He had laughed. " _I want a mirror!_ "

Koala had stuttered out an apology, then sighed and obliged when he demanded that she call him –kun instead.

But… it was too late. Her silence had seemed to confirmed Sabo's answer. He had left. He probably hated her, a judgmental, shallow girl who seemed to base her preference on blood family, not family by bonds.

 _Please don't leave…_

Pressing her knees even closer to her chest, Koala started to softly cry.

 _Please don't leave me alone…_

He was already gone.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Heart aching, Sabo picked halfheartedly at the loose string at the edge of his bed, his traitorous mind constantly refusing to move from the subject of Koala. Her expression of horrified betrayal seemed to be intensified in his mind, and the silence that condemned him.

"Do you want to tell me?" Ah. Ace. Peering up, Sabo wilted, and shrugged before quickly looking away. He didn't have to look to know that Ace's features were twisting in pain at the fact that he couldn't help with Sabo's predicament, and the freckled boy sat down next to Sabo. "I'm right here." Ace reminded Sabo.

Sabo could practically feel his voice cracking, and tried to force it to stay even. "I know." He replied, pressing his head onto Ace's shoulder. He could feel Ace stiffen in surprise, before awkwardly setting a hand onto Sabo's head.

"Tell me what's wrong." Ace begged uncomfortably. "I—I don't like seeing you like this. You're supposed to be the one calling me an idiot for moping and being depressed… and today's your special day. It's your birthday. Sabo? Sabo, please smile…"

For a split second, Sabo almost considered smiling that false, glass smile that had led his parents astray so long ago. The old him might have done it to Ace, even if they were brothers, hiding his pain for his brother's happiness. The old him would never have been hurt by him. The old him would have prepared for rejection. Would have accepted it. Would have just brushed it off like it didn't matter. Because he didn't matter. His brothers were worth much more than him, a despicable noble.

And maybe the old him was better. But the old Sabo was also uncaring. Cold. Distant. _Empty_. The new Sabo smiled real smiles. The new Sabo tried to be warm. Caring. The new Sabo had family that accepted him… people who didn't care. Who made him feel like he was worth something.

Was it so bad to be hurt, if it meant that it was a reassurance that he still had emotions? Closing his eyes, Sabo laughed slightly at himself. He was so desperate for signs that he was human that he felt almost like he was filtering himself.

"Sorry, Ace." Sabo sighed, closing his eyes. "I don't think I can talk just yet."

He could feel Ace's disappointment as his brother's shoulder sagged. "Alright." Ace replied softly, "Just—just remember that whatever you say, I'm still here for you. We're brothers, right?"

Sabo smiled lightly at the reminder and sat up, surprising Ace when Sabo took his head off of Ace's shoulder. "Yeah." He agreed. "We're still brothers no matter what." And then, surprising even himself, Sabo burst into laughter. "I forgot!" He sighed in contentment.

So what if he was spoiled? He had his brothers. And if that wasn't enough, then nothing was.

Just as he finally felt content, the door burst open, and his eyes met with Koala's wide blue orbs of panic. Sabo's chest seized up, and he tried to force back the feelings of regret, quickly looking away and trying to ignore Ace's expression of confusion to why he was reacting like that to the revolutionary's presence.

"Please don't be mad at me." He tried to force away the flinch he had automatically felt when she started to speak, only for the words to register in his mind. He froze, and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. " _Please_." Looking desperate, Koala ran over to where he and Ace were sitting. "I'm sorry for how I reacted… I'm sorry that I was so judgmental and hurt your feelings without clarifying first. So please… please don't hate me for being so shallow, Sabo-kun. Please…" At his silence, her expression drooped, and she looked away, looking hurt. "Can't you even try to look at me?" She begged him.

Sabo's eyes widened. "N-no!" He replied quickly, surprised at how forced his voice sounded, how loud his words were. They seemed to echo around the room, "I'm not mad at you, Koala! You—" Sabo paused, and his eyes widened before he stared at her in almost hungry curiosity. "You don't hate me?"

Koala looked regretful, but when she raised her head to look at Sabo, her lips were set in a determined line. "No!" She replied, vigorously shaking her head. "I don't! I don't hate Sabo-kun! In fact, I admired you! You were smart, confident, you got along with people…" She paused. "You had the courage to do everything I couldn't." She looked down, then peeked at him, hesitant.

Sabo's features brightened and a wide smile split his features in two. "Thanks, Koala-chan!" He exclaimed happily, letting out a sigh of relief.

Ace smiled slightly and bumped shoulders with Sabo. "So this was what you were so worried about?" He asked in relieved amusement. "Looks like your girlfriend doesn't hate you after all."

As the two turned bright red, Ace skipped off, singing teasingly over his shoulder. "I—" Sabo growled in murderous rage. "I'm going to kill him!"

"No you aren't." Koala replied sweetly, before sending the door a death glare. "I'm going to get to him first."

The two stared at each other for a moment, cheeks beet red, before they both burst into laughter. "Thanks for not hating me." Sabo smiled at Koala, letting out a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"Why would I hate you?" Koala asked teasingly. "Now, let's go kill your brother."

0o0o0o0o0o0

 **A Few Months Later…**

Swearing as he swung his sword at one of the invaders, Yukine turned to Hana. "How are they still coming?" He demanded. "I swear, it's like these guys are invincible."

Hana didn't reply for a moment as she fended off the smallest one, and seemingly the weakest, before her eyes darkened. "And they're only children too…" She agreed, her limbs trembling slightly with fatigue as her breaths started coming out as exhausted pants. "How is this happening?"

The one that was near Yukine gave him a chilling smile. "We happened to be a little bored." The boy admitted in a sing song voice. "And then we were told that you had hurt one of our brothers and, well…"

Gasping as his opponent's form flashed only for a knee to connect with his stomach, Yukine stumbled back, pressing his back to a wall as he held his sword out in front of him, eyes flickering around cautiously. "We didn't know!" Yukine pleaded. "Please stop! We didn't have any part in this—it was just some rogue members of our faction, playing around! We didn't mean to! Please—"

"No excuses." The blond replied darkly before Yukine's sword hand screamed in pain. "So you can hurt people as long as it means that nobody will retaliate? Is that what you mean? I find scum like you unforgivable."

"No…" Yukine coughed slightly. "We didn't mean that! But they were dangerous… they were trash talking each other, and one of our people had a big temper! Please forgive him… stop…" His vision danced dangerously, and the blond seemed to be blurrier than he remembered. "You're hurting my family." He choked out desperately.

The boy stopped attacking him, and his bright blue eyes widened. "Family…" The boy echoed wistfully, and gave Yukine a look of forlorn sorrow. "Don't move from that spot. Don't touch anyone or anything, and we'll let you go, alright?"

"Haha…" Yukine let out a raspy laugh. "No can do. You can't expect me to just sit still while you're hurting my family, boy."

"Hm." The blond sighed. "I suppose you're right." He sighed. "Well, you hurt my family first, so I suppose that even if you are a nice guy it's not forgivable." The bright blue eyes suddenly seemed to lose their life, and darkened to an almost black shade.

Yukine was on his last bit of strength. He lunged forwards sloppily, his sword swung without an ounce of the grace that his sensei had pounded into his mind before letting him enter battle.

The boy dodged easily, which Yukine found shameful, since the boy was much younger than himself.

 _Beat by a 10 year old…_ Yukine laughed at how ridiculous and pathetic he seemed. _And I call myself a marine?_

The dark haired boy who Hana was barely fending off grinned at turned to the blond. "I got 6 down!" He called out, snickering. "Can you guys beat that?"

The blond called out, "I got 7! After this guy passes out—" He paused to jerk a thumb towards Yukine, "I'll have 8!"

The freckled boy with the black eyes brushed strands of dark black hair from his forehead to grin at the two. "You two are losers, Sabo, Luffy! I've got 11!"

 _Sabo…_ Yukine thought as his eyelids started to droop. _So, that's the name of the boy who defeated me_.

And everything went black.

 **A/N:** Fun fact! This chapter has the same amount of words as the number of the year that I was born! Sorry for the confusing chapter. The last paragraph has NO CONNECTION with Sabo's birthday, I just needed to fill up to 600 words or so space so that I wouldn't feel guilty for giving you guys a super short chapter. The confusing last chapter will be explained in the next chapter! Probably! Maybe! Not really… (sweat drops)


	23. Marine Raid

**A/N:** The sequel is now up! Unfortunately, I barely just finished the new chapter, so it'll have slow updates. It's called 'Forever Nakama'. Please read it? (puppy dog eyes) And it's really, really bad… I'm sorry… (whimpers)

 **A little before the invasion…**

Squinting as his eyes found the white dome, Sabo wondered out loud, "Marco, is it just me or is that white building a marine base?"

Marco peered out as well, before paling slightly. "I completely forgot!" He exclaimed, and a few words that Sabo would have punched him for using in front of Luffy escaped his mouth. "Sorry, guys! We should've restocked at the island before this, but I thought we'd be able to last! But the chances of landing on _this_ island with a marine base…" He sighed. "Well, at least the highest ranking officer in this base is only a Commander."

Sabo frowned slightly. "Will this cause any trouble?" He wondered.

"Nah." Ace smirked. "It'll be fine. You heard Marco. The highest ranking officer there is a Commander. Pops is the strongest man in the world, remember?"

"Yeah." Marco nodded. "As much as I'm reluctant to give you ideas, you guys could probably raid the base and not even need our help. Not that you should raid it or anything." He added quickly. "Just saying."

Sabo nodded hesitantly, and sighed. "Hey, Lu, want to get into town? I overheard some guys saying they wanted to go."

Luffy, who's attention had been arrested by Vista's magic tricks, quickly turned his head to face them. "Can we!?" He asked excitedly.

Marco opened his mouth to say no, then froze as he stared at the puppy dog eyes. _Oh no…_ He closed his eyes, but it was too late. Luffy's pleading eyes had invaded his mind. "Go ahead." He muttered.

"Yes!" Luffy cheered, eyes bright as he dashed off, his brothers trailing behind him.

"You okay with letting them go like that?" Marco tilted his head up, blinking at Thatch. "You know they'll probably raid the building." Thatch exclaimed, exasperated.

Marco's lips formed an 'o' of understanding before he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Didn't think about that." He confessed.

Thatch's eyes narrowed and he sat down next to Marco. "What's up?" He asked in concern. "You never stop thinking… you're always so cautious. That's why you plan out all of our attacks or defences." The orange haired man paused slightly, then pressed a hand against Marco's forehead. "You're not sick…"

"No, I'm not, and I doubt I ever will be." Marco batted Thatch's hand away. "I just…" He closed his eyes. "I haven't been feeling quite like myself lately, I suppose."

Thatch's lips formed a thin line, his forehead creasing in worry. "…What's wrong?" He pleaded. "I don't like seeing you like this. Everyone's finally stopped treating me like the best china… I'm not made of glass. Things are finally starting to go back to normal, so why are you like this _now_?"

Marco was silent for a moment, before whispering, "The crew looks up to me. Pops, too, of course, but we division commanders have to stay strong for them. I—" He looked away, as though he didn't want to meet Thatch's eyes, too scared to see what Thatch's expression would be. "I was the first to join Pops. Ever. He practically raised me… I've always tried to live up to that. Be strong… not to break. So I kept up a smile for everyone, told them it was all okay, but…" His voice cracked slightly. "It's _not_ okay! My world just feels like it shattered! I feel like I'm stepping on broken glass I— I don't know what to do anymore."

Thatch frowned. "You're fine." He replied, repeating the chant that had come from Marco's lips every day since Teach's betrayal. "We all are. It's not going to happen again. Teach was different from us, we always knew that. We just chose to ignore it."

"But what if we make it _again_?" Marco demanded. "What if we make the same mistake? Choose someone to join us who hates us? I—I made Pops accept Teach. I brought him here. It's my fault… I…" And then he was silent.

The quiet, noiseless atmosphere was terrifying to Thatch. "Stop worrying." He repeated. "It's not your fault!"

"What if it _is_ though? You're just trying to make me feel better! I know I was stupid! I liked Teach a lot! He was on the way to taking over as 2nd division commander! And he did _this_ to you…" The blond made a vague gesture at Thatch's stomach. "What's wrong with me?"

" _Nothing_." Thatch replied firmly. "You believed in family. Is that so wrong?"

"No." Marco shook his head, and sighed, smiling slightly at Thatch. "Thanks. I guess that it isn't so wrong. You're right."

Thatch grinned. "Of course I am." He replied arrogantly. "I'm always right. Now come and get some sweets—I'm experimenting with hiding the taste of spinach in candy."

Marco shook his head and laughed at the idea of vegetables in sweets. "Coming." He agreed, before casting a slight look at where he had seen Ace, Sabo and Luffy race off. "I bet the kids would love it when they're back."

Thatch looked at him in surprise, then his expression softened. "Yeah." He agreed. "I'm sure they would."

The two exchanged light smiles, and as the tension in the air began to lift, they went off towards the kitchen.

0o0o0o0o0o0

"I'm—fine—" Choked out words, a small, pained smile as he placed a hand gingerly on the place where the marine's knife had slashed, Kino gave Sabo a hesitant grin. "No worries, little man."

Luffy had frozen, face pale. "There's a lot of blood." Luffy muttered, voice soft in fear. "Sabo, there's a _lot_ of blood…!" Shaking slightly, Luffy wrapped his arms around Ace's waist.

The eldest of the three placed a hand on the youngest's head, eyes dark in fury. "How dare they." Was all he said, his voice ice cold as he stared regretfully at Kino's wound. "Your back was wounded—those dishonorable little…" Ace swore a couple of times, his fists tightly clenched.

Kino pasted a pale ghost of a smile on his lips as he placed a small hand on Ace's leg. "I'm fine." He replied, and struggled slightly to get up, only to slide backwards and slide slowly down the wall. "R-really."

Sabo curled up into a ball, his forehead pressed against his knees. "A wound to the back is a symbol of dishonorable fighting." He spat out angrily. "Those marines… telling us to have some honor and justice, when they ignore the very things they preach to us."

Luffy started crying softly. Ace was frozen as Luffy's arms wrapped even tighter around his stomach, and hesitantly began to rub circles into Luffy's back in an awkward, half questioning fashion. _How do I deal with a crying brother?_ He silently wondered, sending Sabo a pleading look, but the blond was too busy trying to explain to Kino that he _wasn't_ alright and that they wanted to avenge him to pay attention.

"It's okay, Lu." Ace choked out, but his words sounded frail and lifeless even to his own ears. "It's all going to be alright… really. So stop crying, okay? It's fine—he's alright. Kino's not going to die, he's just a little… injured…" The excuses sounded hollow and pathetic, a far cry from the truth.

"You liar, Ace." Luffy mumbled tiredly, sounding like he was trying to believe Ace but unable to and angry that he couldn't buy the wishful lie that his older brother had given him. "He's not okay."

Sabo turned to them, his face like thunder. "I managed to contact Rakuya. He's bringing Kino back to the ship, so that Kino can get treated." He informed them, his words short and clipped, eyes narrowing as his hands turned to fists. "If it had been a fair fight, those cowardly weaklings would've been easily defeated."

"What ifs mean nothing." Ace responded, a little dazed when he realized that he, not Sabo, was acting as the voice of reason, for once. "We can't change the past."

"No." Sabo agreed, cracking his knuckles. His lips formed a wicked grin. "But we can still beat those cowards up."

Ace blinked slightly, before grinning. "I like the way you think." He replied. "And Marco _did_ say that even we could take them by ourselves. We're not really weak…" He glanced at Luffy, and added teasingly, "At least most of us."

"Hey, I'm really strong!" Luffy protested slightly. He wiped the tears from his eyes quickly, before his lips twitched from their frown and quirked up into an impossible grin. "Hey, you're not leaving without me, are you?" He asked, laughing slightly. "Let's go beat them up!"

0o0o0o0o0o0

 **After the Raid…**

"What were you _thinking_!?" Marco demanded as he wiped at Sabo's cheek with a disinfectant, offering no sympathy when the blond winced at the pain. "Going against an entire marine base like that! Whatever gave you the idea that you could take them, you idiots!?"

"You." Ace grumbled sourly in reply as a nurse treated him with a little more gentleness than Marco was giving Sabo. "You were the one who told us that we could take them, remember?"

"I said that so that you wouldn't be worried, not so that you'd go and _raid them_ out of your own free will!" Marco replied angrily. "Why did you do something so risky?"

"Wouldn't you have done the same?" Sabo demanded. "…If they hurt your nakama!? Stop treating us like kids! Maybe we're younger than you, but we still have honor! You think that we'll just sit back and wait for someone else to avenge our nakama when _we_ were the ones who failed to protect him!? You think that's going to happen!?"

Marco stared at him for a moment in mute amazement, before smiling slightly, and whispering slightly, "Yeah. Sorry." He pressed the cloth more gently against Sabo's cheek, thinking back to when he had first fought. _"Stop treating me like a doll! I'm not going to break! I'm strong now!"_ Maybe it wasn't all that bad. "You know what?" He asked, smiling slightly.

Sabo looked a little curious. "What?" He asked, then added suspiciously, "Wait, this isn't a lecture, is it?"

Marco laughed lightly. "No, don't worry. I just wanted to say that I'm proud of you guys for doing what's right." The three beamed at him, pride swelling up in their chests as they grinned at him. " _However_." Their smiles immediately froze and drooped slightly. "I do _not_ approve of the consequences."

Ace looked slightly hesitant, but they all knew he had to ask. "…What happened?" He asked.

Marco sighed before tossing him the newspaper that the newscoo had given him. "Take a look for yourselves." He grumbled sourly, shaking his head slightly with a frown.

Ace blinked slightly, looking perplexed. Sabo, as well, was for once stumped as to why Marco was giving them the newspaper.

The eldest of the three unfurled the newspaper, before his eyes widened at the three bounty posters peering up at him.

' _Silver Flash Sabo' – 7 million_ Sabo, shooting the photographer a dark look, his pipe hanging loosely from his hand, top hat slightly crooked and shadowing his eyes, making him look much older than his true age.

' _Straw Hat Luffy' – 5 million_ Luffy, grinning stupidly at the frame (that _idiot!_ ), his new trademark barely fitting in, Ace and Sabo in the background, standing over some whimpering, pitiful soul.

' _Fire Fist Ace_ ' _– 10 million_ Ace, fist pulled back, ready to clock the photographer. Ah, yes, he remembered now. The guy had been fast at running, and he had eventually given up on him. Ace scowled. He should have taken him out.

"Fire fist?" Marco asked him, sounding unimpressed. "Why would they name you that?"

Sabo snickered. "Because this pyromaniac lit fire halfway through and went around punching people…"

"That would explain the burns." Marco shot Ace a withering glance. "Didn't you think to put the fire out by _not_ punching people?"

Ace rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sabo actually threw some water over my head… I didn't even realize I was burning until my hair started burning. I barely felt it."

Marco groaned.

 **A/N:** I know, I know! It's bad, pathetic, and you demand a refund! I had debated this slightly, but I decided not to include the actual raid. Maybe in an omake? Why? Because I figured the little bit before mainly covered it. (bows) I'm so, so sorry… but I wrote this all in one day as a rush job…


	24. Shanks, and Author's Note

**IMPORTANT NOTE!**

 **I've gotten a crazy number of reviews about the sequel...**

 **SO!**

 **In case you don't read the A/N (which is alright, I don't read it either sometimes) THERE IS A SEQUEL. It's called Forever Nakama, and you can find it if you go to my profile page.**

 **...**

 **Here's Shanks' reaction to Luffy's bounty:**

He stared.

And stared.

And panicked like crazy.

"Um, boss?" Benn sighed as Shanks started sobbing about how his little anchor had grown up and started to get drunk. In the middle of the afternoon. AGAIN. "You were looking forwards to this, weren't you? You were excited, and couldn't wait for Luffy to join us out at sea, so why are you so-" He guestured at the mess that he called his captain.

"But he's so young!" Shanks blubbered. "Look at the cute face on the bounty poster! And it says dead or alive! What if he gets hurt? Remember how much he cried when he stabbed himself? How he tried to deny the pain? What if bounty hunters think he's an easy kill? Or what if..."

"Just shut up already, you mother hen." Benn scowled. "I don't care about your stupid issues. Luffy is strong, he can handle himself."

It is very hard to ignore a one armed, sobbing, red haired man. Especially when he's supposed to be one of the strongest men in the world.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

On the Moby Dick, Marco suppressed a shiver.

"What is it, mother hen?" Thatch asked, his voice completely innocent despite the nickname that he had casually used.

"Nothing." Marco scowled. "I just... was reminded of _that man_ suddenly... AND GO DIE, YOU STUPID COOK!"


End file.
